Word.ws English Dictionary

switchman

switchman noun: a person who operates railway switches that route trains onto rail tracks.

Noun

switchman (plural switchmen)

  1. A person who operates railway switches that route trains onto rail tracks.
    • This route is repeated automatically on the control panel of the appropriate box as flashing indications covering the track circuits involved and the switchman obeys the instruction by setting up the required route.1959 August, Flt. Lt. R. M. Williams, “The German Federal Railways today: 2. Modern signalling at Hanover”, in Trains Illustrated, page 387
    Synonyms:
    pointsman
  2. A person whose job is to help in the switching of railcars in a railway yard.

Synonyms of switchman

All synonyms of switchman

Forms of switchman

pluralswitchmen

Origin of switchman

From switch + -man.

Questions about switchman

What does switchman mean?
Switchman means a person who operates railway switches that route trains onto rail tracks.
What part of speech is switchman?
Switchman is a noun.
What is the plural of switchman?
The plural of switchman is switchmen.

Words near switchman in the dictionary

  1. switchings
  2. switchknife
  3. switchknives
  4. switchless
  5. switchlike
  6. switchman
  7. switchmen
  8. switchmode
  9. switchology
  10. switchout
  11. switchouts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: switchman (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “switchman.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/switchman. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.