1_million_words | Word of the Day 10/12/25 Ombudsman

Ombudsman (noun)
ombudsman [om-buhdz-muhn, -man, -boodz-, awm-, om-boodz-muhn, -man, awm-]

noun plural ombudsmen
1. a government official who hears and investigates complaints by private citizens against other officials or government agencies.
2. a person who investigates and attempts to resolve complaints and problems, as between employees and an employer or between students and a university.

Related Words
authority, court, critic, expert, inspector, justice, referee

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

Origin: 1910–15; < Swedish: legal representative, equivalent to ombud agent, attorney + -s ’s + -man -man

Example Sentences
A court-appointed privacy ombudsman said in a report filed earlier this week that he couldn’t conclude that a sale of the genetic data was consistent with 23andMe’s own privacy policies.
Read more on The Wall Street Journal

To win approval of the deal, Mr Ellison agreed to install an independent ombudsman at CBS to review complaints of bias and committed to regulators that programming would reflect a diversity of view points.
Read more on BBC

Shortly after, the merger was approved by the FCC with strict political conditions: hiring an ombudsman to oversee CBS’s reporting and eliminating all of the network’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Read more on Salon

"We have really done everything we possibly can to consider this particular situation and the next step would be for that person or family to talk to the local government ombudsman," she added.
Read more on BBC

"As we cannot legally enter a property without consent, the ombudsman confirmed our conduct in this regard was appropriate," it said.
Read more on BBC

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