COMMITTEE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does committee mean? 

• COMMITTEE (noun)
  The noun COMMITTEE has 2 senses:

1. a special group delegated to consider some matter

2. a self-constituted organization to promote something

  Familiarity information: COMMITTEE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMITTEE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A special group delegated to consider some matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

commission; committee

Context example:

a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours

Hypernyms ("committee" is a kind of...):

administrative body; administrative unit (a unit with administrative responsibilities)

Meronyms (members of "committee"):

commissioner (a member of a commission)

committee member (a member of a committee)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "committee"):

blue ribbon commission; blue ribbon committee (an independent and exclusive commission of nonpartisan statesmen and experts formed to investigate some important governmental issue)

vestry (in the Protestant Episcopal Church: a committee elected by the congregation to work with the churchwardens in managing the temporal affairs of the church)

jury; panel (a committee appointed to judge a competition)

zoning commission (a commission delegated to supervise the zoning of areas for residential or commercial use)

praesidium; presidium (a permanent executive committee in socialist countries that has all the powers of some larger legislative body and that acts for it when it is not in session)

PAC; political action committee (committee formed by a special-interest group to raise money for their favorite political candidates)

politburo (the chief executive and political committee of the Communist Party)

finance committee (a committee appointed to consider financial issues)

ethics committee; ethics panel (a committee appointed to consider ethical issues)

steering committee (a committee to arrange the order of business for some larger (legislative) body)

standing committee (a permanent committee)

subcommittee (a subset of committee members organized for a specific purpose)

select committee (a parliamentary committee appointed for some special purpose)

conservancy (a commission with jurisdiction over fisheries and navigation in a port or river)

planning commission (a commission delegated to propose plans for future activities and developments)

fairness commission (a commission delegated to ensure opportunities for the expression of opposing views)

election commission (a commission delegated to supervise an election)

board (a committee having supervisory powers)

Economic and Social Council commission; ECOSOC commission (a commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations)

Derivation:

commit (confer a trust upon)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A self-constituted organization to promote something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

citizens committee; committee

Hypernyms ("committee" is a kind of...):

NGO; nongovernmental organization (an organization that is not part of the local or state or federal government)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "committee"):

vigilance committee (a volunteer committee to maintain order where an efficient legal system does not exist)

welcoming committee (a committee to welcome new residents to a community)

 Context examples 

An external committee whose purpose is to evaluate study data and decide whether a study endpoint or other criterion has been met.

(Adjudication Committee, NCI Thesaurus)

"Both these prizes (...) tell us something essential, something existential about our place in the Universe", said selection committee member Ulf Danielsson.

(Swedish academy announces 2019 Nobel Prize winners in physics, Wikinews)

Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each member of the committee had his own motive for making the most of his results.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A person who presides over a review committee or panel, which evaluates letters of intent (LOI) for clinical trials.

(Letter of Intent Review Chair, NCI Thesaurus)

The officer who presides at the meetings of an organization, committee, or other organizational structure.

(Chairperson, NCI Thesaurus)

A unique gene name approved by an organism specific nomenclature committee.

(Gene Symbol, NCI Thesaurus)

Other equivalent committees with the same or similar functions are also considered to be IRBs.

(Institutional Review Board, NCI Thesaurus)

In the United States, an independent committee of physicians, statisticians, and members of the community must approve and monitor the protocol.

(Clinical Trials, NIH: National Institutes of Health)

When we met in Dr. Seward's study two hours after dinner, which had been at six o'clock, we unconsciously formed a sort of board or committee.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)