foreman

B2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˈfɔː(ɹ).mən/ See IPA manual

Freq #7010

Meanings

1

noun
A person in charge of a group of workers, especially in a factory or on a building site.

If you want to leave early, you have to ask the foreman.
2

noun
The member of a jury who leads it and speaks for it.

The jury foreman read out the verdict.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person in charge of a... boss

Word family

Forms foremen

Derived forms foremanshipsubforeman

Related forms forepeopleforepersonforewoman

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

assistant foreman
a worker who helps supervise a work crew under a foreman

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English foremon, forman. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður. By surface analysis, fore- + man.

foremon Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society

External links

# foreman

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈfɔː(ɹ).mən/
**Frequency rank:** 7010

## Meanings
1. A person in charge of a group of workers, especially in a factory or on a building site.
2. The member of a jury who leads it and speaks for it.

## Examples
- If you want to leave early, you have to ask the foreman.
- The jury foreman read out the verdict.

## Derived Forms
- foremanship
- subforeman

## Related Forms
- forepeople
- foreperson
- forewoman

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: foremon

## Etymology
From Middle English foremon, forman. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður. By surface analysis, fore- + man.

## AI Etymology
Foreman comes from Middle English foremon, forman. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður. By surface analysis, fore- + man. In current use, the main senses are “A person in charge of a group of workers, especially in a factory or on a building site” and “The member of a jury who leads it and speaks for it”.

## Topics
- People & Society

markdown