point man
13
6.1
- noun
- /pɔɪnt mæn/
- Informal
:
responsable
- The project manager appointed Sarah as the point man for the upcoming marketing campaign.
- the administration's point man
He was Howard Hughes's financial point man.
- He was Howard Hughes's financial point man.
- And if we're going to put Don Junior as a point man for diplomacy, we're so fucked.
- Well, there is one thing more ironic than that, that Donald Trump's point man on Secretary Clinton's health is Rudolph Giuliani.
- And the point man said something like, and I'm going to fuck this up.
Examples
-
- I never met our point man.
-
Ethan Hunt will, of course, be your point man, as usual.
Fiction book (1996) -
- Tell me about your point man.
-
Sir, I'm point man on this operation.
-
I can't be the point man on this anymore.
-
I'm the point man for a POW search mission.
-
Francis McManamon of the Park Service was named point man in the case for the Department of the Interior.
Academic text (2000) -
So, you're the new point man on the DeLauers?
-
As chair of the subcommittee to which welfare proposals were referred, he became the administration's "point man" on welfare reform in the Senate.
Academic text (2006) -
Lord later served as ambassador to China under Reagan and Bush, then as Clinton's point man on China in the position of Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
498
3.1
A man who officially speaks for a group or organization
178
3.7
A person who organizes people or groups to work together effectively
28
6.9
A person who others trust most in a group or situation
1
6.0
A person who plays a very important role in a team or project
1
3.6
A person who leads a team working on a particular task
1
4.0
A person who leads a group at work and gives tasks
A woman who goes first to lead a group, often in dangerous places
How Responsible
424
3.0
∞
1.0
- Informal
13
6.1
178
3.7
- Specialized
214
2.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is partly compositional: 'point' here implies the front or leading position and 'man' is a person (soldier), so a learner can infer 'the person who goes at the point/front.' However, the specific occupational role of scouting ahead and detecting danger is a military extension that may not be fully predictable from the constituents alone, making it only partially transparent.
Etymology
Point man used for a project comes from a military picture: one soldier walked at the very point, the front, of a patrol and led the others. Because that soldier had to lead and face danger first, the phrase now means 'the main person responsible'.