Meanings
plural invigilatrices
- rareA woman (or entity given female personification) who invigilates; a female invigilator.
Our invigilatrix was my WEA widow, earning a little daytime money by giving out the papers and watching for cheaters.
1987, Anthony Burgess, Little Wilson and Big God, page 1451 more example
A History paper was lately set, at a girls’ school, on a certain period of English history—say the Reformation. One question was: “Mention the person in your period who interests you most, and give your reasons.” During the examination some female præpostor or other subaltern was sitting with the girls, some of whom asked, “Does ‘your period’ mean our period?” “Yes,” said the invigilatrix, if that is the word for the fair looker-on.
1911 January 7, Andrew Lang, “At the Sign of St. Paul’s: Andrew Lang on Scott and Golf, Ghosts, and Literary Examinations”, in The Illustrated London News, volume CXXXVIII, number 3742, London: [T]he Illustrated London News and Sketch, Limited, page 16, column 3
Origin
Formed as invigilate + -trix, after invigilator. Compare the Italian invigilatrice.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
invigilatrix. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invigilatrix
“invigilatrix.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invigilatrix. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “invigilatrix,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/invigilatrix.
Source: invigilatrix on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.