Meaning & use
foreman
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person in charge of a group of workers who gives them instructions and checks their work.
Grammar: Countable; the plural is foremen.
Patterns
- the foreman of something
- foreman at something
The foreman told the crew to start early.
She worked as a foreman at the steel mill.
The foreman checked each wall before lunch.
nouncountablelegal
The member of a jury who is chosen to lead discussions and announce the verdict.
Grammar: Used in court contexts: the foreman of the jury.
Patterns
- the foreman of the jury
The foreman of the jury read the verdict aloud.
The jurors elected a retired teacher as foreman.
The judge asked the foreman if they had agreed.
Word forms
| plural | foremen |
|---|
Common combinations
- jury foreman
- The jury foreman stood to speak.
- site foreman
- The site foreman wore a bright yellow helmet.
- factory foreman
- The factory foreman trained new hires.
- construction foreman
- A construction foreman schedules daily tasks.
- appoint a foreman
- The jury appointed a foreman within minutes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- supervisor
- Supervisor is a more general word and can apply to any workplace, not only manual jobs.
- overseer
- Overseer is older and can suggest strict control, sometimes historically harsh.
- manager
- A manager usually has wider duties like budgets and hiring, while a foreman directs the daily work.
- gaffer
- Gaffer is a British informal word for a boss or foreman.
Opposites
Word family
- forewoman noun
- a woman who supervises workers
- foreperson noun
- gender-neutral word for a foreman, especially of a jury
- foremanship noun
- the role or skill of a foreman (rare)
Commonly confused: foreman or foreword?
foreman vs foreword
A foreword is a short introduction at the start of a book. It is pronounced a little like foreman but is only written text.
Practice
The jurors agreed that one of them would speak for the group, and she became the ______.
Choose one answer.
The foreman, or foreperson, of a jury speaks for it and gives the verdict. The other words mean an introduction, a predecessor and a weather predictor.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foreman”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.