chief

UK:*UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈtʃiːf/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/tʃif/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(chēf )


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
chief /tʃif/USA pronunciation   n. [countable]
  1. the head or leader of an organized body: the chief of police.
  2. the ruler of a tribe or clan: an Indian chief.
  3. Informal TermsInformal. boss1:You're the workers and she's the chief.

adj. [before a noun]
  1. highest in rank or authority:the chief magistrate.
  2. most important;
    principal:the chief difficulty.
Idioms
  1. Heraldry, Idioms in chief, [after a noun] highest in rank:commander in chief (= commander who is highest in rank).

chief•dom, n. [uncountable]

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025
chief  (chēf ),USA pronunciation n. 
  1. the head or leader of an organized body of people;
    the person highest in authority:the chief of police.
  2. the head or ruler of a tribe or clan:an Indian chief.
  3. Military(cap.) [U.S. Army.]a title of some advisers to the Chief of Staff, who do not, in most instances, command the troop units of their arms or services:Chief of Engineers; Chief Signal Officer.
  4. Informal Termsboss or leader:We'll have to talk to the chief about this.
  5. Heraldry
    • the upper area of an escutcheon.
    • an ordinary occupying this area.
  6. Heraldry, Idioms in chief:
    • in the chief position;
      highest in rank (used in combination):editor in chief; commander in chief.
    • [Heraldry.]in the upper part of an escutcheon.

adj. 
  1. highest in rank or authority:the chief priest; the chief administrator.
  2. most important;
    principal:his chief merit; the chief difficulty.

adv. 
  1. [Archaic.]chiefly;
    principally.
  • Vulgar Latin *capum, re-formation of Latin caput head
  • Anglo-French chief, chef, Old French chef
  • Middle English 1250–1300
chiefless, adj. 
chiefship, n. 
    • 8.See corresponding entry in Unabridged foremost, leading, prime, paramount, cardinal. See capital 1.
    • 7.See corresponding entry in Unabridged subordinate.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
chief / tʃiːf/
  1. the head, leader, or most important individual in a group or body of people
  2. the upper third of a shield
  3. in chief primarily; especially
  1. (prenominal) most important; principal
  2. highest in rank or authority
  1. principally
Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French, from Latin caput head
'chief' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Collocations: a [military, police, union] chief, the [local, city, state, district] police chief, the chief of [staff, security, police], more...

Forum discussions with the word(s) "chief" in the title:


Look up "chief" at Merriam-Webster
Look up "chief" at dictionary.com
  • Go to Preferences page and choose from different actions for taps or mouse clicks.

In other languages: Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | German | Dutch | Swedish | Russian | Polish | Czech | Greek | Turkish | Chinese | Japanese | Korean | Arabic

Advertisements
Advertisements
Report an inappropriate ad.
WordReference.com
WORD OF THE DAY
GET THE DAILY EMAIL!