What does chairman mean?
Word: Chairman
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Chairman means the person in charge of a meeting, a committee or a company.
Synonyms: chair, chairperson, president
How do you spell chairman?
Syllables: chair - man
Tricky part: The air sound in the middle is spelt air, as in hair and pair. Students write chareman or chearman. The plural is chairmen.
Watch out for: chareman, cheirman, chearman
Memory tip: A good chairman is fair to everyone, and both words spell their middle sound with air.
Chairman in a sentence
Example 1: The chairman of the company opened the annual meeting.
Example 2: Our PTA chairman thanked the parents for volunteering at sports day.
Example 3: The chairman asked everyone to vote by raising their hands.
Fun Fact
Many organisations now use the gender-neutral words chair or chairperson. Chairperson came into use in the early 1970s.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. chairman 2. delegete 3. comissioner 4. secratary
a) a person who keeps records and writes letters for an organisation
b) a person chosen to represent others
c) the person in charge of a meeting or company
d) an official in charge of a government department or district
Show answer
c) the person in charge of a meeting or company. Secretary has e after the r, commissioner doubles the m and delegate ends in -ate, so chairman is the word to pick.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to chairman as used in the sentence:
At the end of the year the chairman thanked every committee member for their hard work.
a) guest
b) member
c) clerk
d) head
Show answer
d) head. The chairman is the head of the committee, the one who leads it.
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) chairman
b) bussinessman
c) fishrman
d) sportman
Show answer
a) chairman. Chairman joins chair and man cleanly; the others should be sportsman, businessman and fisherman.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence contains a jumbled word. Choose the word it hides:
The board elected a new hraincma at its meeting last week.
a) chairman
b) chemist
c) chaplain
d) champion
Show answer
a) chairman. The jumble has eight letters with two a's and an r: chaplain needs a p and an l, champion a p and an o, and chemist is too short.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. At a meeting, the chairman's main job is to ____.
a) record everything that is said
b) book the hall for next time
c) print the agenda sheets
d) lead the discussion and keep order
Show answer
d) lead the discussion and keep order
2. A chairman's casting vote is used when ____.
a) the members arrive late
b) the votes are equally divided
c) the meeting runs late
d) the hall is too noisy
Show answer
b) the votes are equally divided
