What does committeeman mean?
A committeeman is a man who serves on a committee — a small group entrusted with a specific task, decision-making role, or representative function. The word appears most often in two settings: organizational life, where it simply denotes a male member of any formal committee, and American political tradition, where a ward or district committeeman acted as a local party official, mobilizing voters and representing the machine at the neighbourhood level. It also survives in trade-union vocabulary, where a shop-floor or works committeeman handles members' grievances. The plural is committeemen. Because the term specifies gender, contemporary style guides generally favour the neutral alternative 'committee member', though the older form persists in historical writing and in established institutional titles. The word carries a slightly old-fashioned, procedural connotation — evoking smoke-filled rooms, union halls, and civic boards more than modern corporate language.
nounA man who serves as a member of a committee, especially one appointed or elected to carry out a particular duty or represent an organization.
- A man who is a member of a committee, especially in politics or trade unions.
- (US, historical/local government) A party official responsible for organizing political activity within a ward or district.
"As the union's committeeman, he handled every grievance filed by the shop floor."
"The committeeman presented the subcommittee's findings to the full board."
"Every precinct had its own committeeman responsible for turning out voters on election day."
Regular masculine -man/-men plural; the gender-neutral collective is simply 'committee members'.
"The committeemen voted unanimously to postpone the vote until spring."
In American politics, being a 'ward committeeman' was once a genuine career path — the neighborhood power brokers who delivered votes for party machines were often committeemen first.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of committeeman
The word is formed from 'committee', which entered English in the early seventeenth century from the verb 'commit' (via Latin committere, 'to bring together, entrust'), combined with the agent suffix '-man'. It thus belongs to the same family as commission and mission, all descending from the Latin root mittere, 'to send'. The compound arose naturally alongside similar formations such as statesman and gentleman.
Related word forms
How committeeman is actually used
The term is somewhat dated and gender-specific; modern usage increasingly prefers the gender-neutral 'committee member'. It remains common in American political and union contexts, particularly for ward and shop-floor roles.
Easily confused with committeeman
A 'committee' is the group itself, while a 'committeeman' is one individual man serving on it.