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Chairman vs Ringleader - What's the difference?

chairman | ringleader | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between chairman and ringleader

is that chairman is a person (implied male) presiding over a meeting while ringleader is a leader of a group of people, especially an unofficial group.

chairman

Noun

(chairmen)
  • A person (implied male) presiding over a meeting.
  • The head of a corporate or governmental board of directors, a committee, or other formal entity.
  • (historical) Someone whose job is to carry people in a portable chair, sedan chair, or similar conveyance.
  • * 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 618:
  • Mr Western entered; but not before a small wrangling bout had passed between him and his chairmen ; for the fellows, who had taken up their burden at the Hercules Pillars, had conceived no hopes of having any future good customer in the squire [...]
  • * 1836 , Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers ?
  • Mr. Winkle, catching sight of a lady's face at the window of the sedan, turned hastily round, plied the knocker with all his might and main, and called frantically upon the chairman to take the chair away again.

    Usage notes

    Historically meant a man, now also used for women.

    Antonyms

    * chairwoman

    Hypernyms

    * chair, chairperson * presiding officer, presider

    ringleader

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a leader of a group of people, especially an unofficial group
  • a person who starts and leads a disturbance (such as a riot), a conspiracy, or a criminal gang
  • * The police arrested the ringleaders of the smuggling operation.
  • * (1590): William Shakespeare, King Henry VI, Part 2 : A sort of naughty persons, lewdly bent, / Under the countenance and confederacy / Of Lady Eleanor, the protector's wife, / The ringleader and head of all this rout, / Have practis'd dangerously against your state...