Meaning & use
search committee
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountableformalAmerican
a group of people chosen to look for and recommend someone for an important job
Grammar: Countable: 'a search committee', 'the search committee', 'search committees'. It often takes a singular verb when thought of as one group.
Patterns
- a search committee for something
- chair of the search committee
- the search committee meets
The university formed a search committee to find a new president.
She was asked to chair the search committee for the new dean.
The search committee will interview candidates next month.
Word forms
| plural | search committees |
|---|
Common combinations
- chair the search committee
- He was chosen to chair the search committee.
- form a search committee
- The board formed a search committee to hire a new CEO.
- search committee meeting
- The search committee meeting lasted three hours.
- serve on a search committee
- Two professors serve on the search committee.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hiring committee
- Similar meaning, but it can be used for any level of job, not only senior academic or executive posts.
- selection panel
- More common in British English for a group that chooses among candidates.
Word family
Commonly confused: search committee or research committee?
search committee vs research committee
A research committee deals with studies and experiments, not with hiring people.
Practice
The university set up a ______ to find a new dean.
Choose one answer.
A 'search committee' is formed specifically to look for and recommend a person for a job. A research committee deals with studies, a welcome committee greets people, and a finance committee handles money.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “search committee”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.