Meaning & use
a chauffeur
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person whose job is to drive a car for someone else, especially a rich or important person.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a chauffeur', 'two chauffeurs', or 'the chauffeur'.
Patterns
- work as a chauffeur
- hire a chauffeur
- a chauffeur for someone
- someone's chauffeur
The millionaire's chauffeur opened the door for her.
He works as a chauffeur for a hotel in the city center.
They hired a chauffeur to drive them to the wedding.
Word forms
| plural | chauffeurs |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a chauffeur
- She works as a chauffeur for a private family.
- hire a chauffeur
- We decided to hire a chauffeur for the whole weekend.
- a chauffeur-driven car
- The CEO arrived in a chauffeur-driven car.
- personal chauffeur
- He has a personal chauffeur who takes him everywhere.
Synonyms and how they differ
- driver
- A general word for anyone who drives; 'chauffeur' is more specific and suggests a professional serving a private employer.
- cabbie
- Informal for a taxi driver; a chauffeur usually drives a private car, not a taxi for paying passengers.
Word family
- chauffeur verb
- To drive someone somewhere as a chauffeur; less common than the noun.
Commonly confused: a chauffeur or chauffeur?
a chauffeur vs chauffeur
The word without 'a' is the actual headword; 'a chauffeur' is just the noun with the article.
Practice
My uncle works ___ a chauffeur for a famous actor.
Choose one answer.
'Work as a chauffeur' means he has that job. 'Work like a chauffeur' would mean he drives in a similar way but is not actually one; 'work for a chauffeur' changes the meaning completely.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a chauffeur”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.