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Another word for chief

a-z
Noun

  1. One who is highest in rank or authority

      1. A person who is in charge; a manager or leader:
      1. The owner or keeper of an animal:
      2. Used as a title for a man who serves as the head or presiding officer of certain societies, clubs, orders, or institutions.
      3. (--- Old-fashioned) A man who is head of a household or institution
      1. (Fishing) A short piece of catgut, nylon, etc. used to attach the hook or lure to the fish line
      2. One who has influence or power, especially of a political nature.
      3. A person or thing that leads; directing, commanding, or guiding head, as of a group or activity
      1. The leader or chief of a religious group; high priest
      2. One who occupies a high position in a hierarchy:
      1. A leader, chief, or overseer
      2. The chief man especially of a tribal or traditional village.
      3. Alternative spelling of head man.
      1. (Anatomy) The rounded proximal end of a long bone:
      2. The seat of the faculty of reason; intelligence, intellect, or mind:
      3. A portrait or representation of a person's head.
      1. A member of a group of persons chosen to control or govern the affairs of an institution or corporation.
      2. One who directs; the person in charge of managing a department or directorate (e.g., director of engineering), project, or production (as in a show or film, e.g., film director).
      3. The head of a project, bureau, school, etc.; supervisor
      1. A chief or leader, esp. of a clan or tribe
      2. The leader or head of a group, especially of a clan or tribe.
      1. A professional politician who controls a party or a political machine.
      2. A person who controls a political machine or organization, as in a county
      3. A person in authority over employees, as an employer, a manager, or a foreman
    Idioms:
    See also:

    over

  2. A professional politician who controls a party or political machine

      1. A loss leader.
      2. A person or thing that leads; directing, commanding, or guiding head, as of a group or activity
      3. One who heads a political party or organization.
      1. A person in authority over employees, as an employer, a manager, or a foreman
      2. A person who controls a political machine or organization, as in a county
      3. A professional politician who controls a party or a political machine.
    See also:

    over

  3. Someone who directs and supervises workers

      1. (US) A worker acting as a supervisor of other workers
      2. A person having subordinate authority, as a foreman's assistant
      3. A worker who acts as a boss or crew leader in addition to performing regular duties.
      1. Female equivalent of taskmaster.
      2. A woman who imposes tasks, especially burdensome or laborious ones.
      1. A person who regularly imposes difficult or demanding tasks.
      2. Someone who supervises workers, especially one who imposes hard or burdensome work.
      1. In certain school systems, an official in charge of the courses of study for a particular subject and of all teachers of that subject
      2. A person who supervises; superintendent; manager; director
      3. One who is in charge of a particular department or unit, as in a governmental agency or school system.
      1. A person in charge of a department, institution, etc.; director; supervisor
      2. A janitor or custodian in a building, especially in an apartment house.
      3. A person responsible for the maintenance of a building; custodian
      1. A supervisor or superintendent.
      2. One who watches over and directs the work of others, especially laborers.
      1. In a school or college, a student in charge of the equipment and records of a team under the supervision of a coach
      2. A person who manages
      3. One who is in charge of the business affairs of an entertainer.
      1. (Anatomy) The rounded proximal end of a long bone:
      2. The seat of the faculty of reason; intelligence, intellect, or mind:
      3. A portrait or representation of a person's head.
      1. A woman who serves as the leader of a work crew, as in a factory.
      2. A woman who chairs and speaks for a jury.
      1. A foreman or forewoman.
      2. The leader of a work crew, as in a factory.
      3. The chair and spokesperson for a jury:
      1. A man who chairs and speaks for a jury.
      2. A man who serves as the leader of a work crew, as in a factory.
      3. A person in charge of a department or group of workers in a factory, mill, etc.
      1. One who directs; the person in charge of managing a department or directorate (e.g., director of engineering), project, or production (as in a show or film, e.g., film director).
      2. A member of a group of persons chosen to control or govern the affairs of an institution or corporation.
      3. The head of a project, bureau, school, etc.; supervisor
      1. One who makes decisions or exercises authority.
      2. A person who controls a political machine or organization, as in a county
      3. A person in authority over employees, as an employer, a manager, or a foreman
    See also:

    over

Adjective

  1. Having or exercising authority

    See also:

    over

  2. Most important, influential, or significant

      1. Of, situated at, or being the top; uppermost, highest, greatest, or foremost
      2. Of the highest degree, quality, rank, or amount:
      3. Of or having to do with the Top 40 or the kind of popular music they represent
      1. Highest or among the highest in rank, authority, importance, degree, etc.
      2. Of, relating to, or being financial principal, or a principal in a financial transaction.
      3. First or highest in rank or importance.
      1. Being the most desired or suitable example of something:
      2. From which others are derived; fundamental; basic
      3. First or highest in rank or importance; main:
      1. (Ornithology) Designating or of the large, stiff feathers on the last section, or hand, of a bird's wing
      2. Relating to the replacement of only one of several atoms or groups in a compound, such as an amine in which one valence of the functional group is taken by a carbon atom.
      3. First in importance; chief; principal; main
      1. First in status or importance; principal or chief:
      1. Highest in rank, power, or authority:
      2. Of chief concern or importance:
      1. First in rank, order, or importance:
      1. Characterized by major intervals, scales, etc.
      2. Designating a triad having intervals of a major third between the lower two pitches, and a minor third between the upper two pitches
      3. Equivalent to the distance between the tonic note and the second or third or sixth or seventh degrees of a major scale or mode:
      1. Most important; principal.
      2. (Nautical) Connected to or located near the mainmast:
      3. Chief in size, extent, importance, etc.; principal; leading; specif., designating a large central unit on which subsidiaries or branches depend
      1. Occurring in advance; preceding.
      2. Having a position in the lead; foremost:
      3. Ranking first.
      1. Controlling; essential; important
      2. Of crucial importance; significant:
      1. More prominent or important than others, especially in position or rank:
      2. First in rank or importance; leading
      1. Preceding all others in a series; before any other; 1st
      2. Corresponding in order to the number one.
      3. Ranking above all others, as in importance or quality; foremost:
      1. Bright-red, like the robe of a cardinal
      2. Of foremost importance; paramount:
      3. Of main importance; principal; chief
      1. Of or relating to financial assets, especially being or related to those financial assets that add to the net worth of a business:
      2. Most important or most serious; principal; chief
      3. First and foremost; principal:
    See also:

    important

© Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Another word for chief

Modifier
  1. See also:

    principal

    principal

Noun

  1. The outstanding person or thing

    See also:

    leader

    administrator

    Antonyms:

  2. A chieftain

      1. Used formerly as a title for military and civil officers, especially in Turkey and northern Africa.
      2. A title of rank or honor placed after the name
      3. (Historical) A high-ranking Turkish military officer, especially as a commander or regional governor; the highest honorary title during the Ottoman Empire.
      1. (Slang, former) A masterful man to whom women are irresistibly attracted
      2. The chief of an Arab family, tribe, or village
      3. A Muslim religious or community leader
      1. A prince, chieftain, or governor, especially in the Middle East.
      2. A title given Muhammad's descendants through his daughter Fatima
      3. A prince, commander or other leader or ruler in an Islamic nation.
      1. In countries of the E Mediterranean, a man of high social status as a result of wealth, education, or position in the government
      2. Used as a title of respect for men in Turkey, equivalent to sir.
      3. Sir; Mr.: a former Turkish title of respect
      1. A member of the privileged aristocracy in czarist Russia, ranking just below the ruling princes
      2. A member of a class of higher Russian nobility that until the time of Peter I headed the civil and military administration of the country and participated in an early duma.
      3. (Historical) A rank of aristocracy (second only to princes) in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania.
      1. A Malay or Javanese chief
      2. A Hindu prince or ruler in India
      1. Used as a form of address for a man in South Asia.
      2. A European man in colonial India.
      3. Sir; master
      1. A king or prince in India ranking above a raja, especially the sovereign of one of the former native states.
      2. Used as a title for such a king or prince.
      1. Any of various unrelated plants, as the box elder or the marsh elder
      2. An older person with some authority or dignity in a tribe or community
      3. A forefather; ancestor; predecessor
      1. A leader, chief, or overseer
      2. Alternative spelling of head man.
      3. The chief man especially of a tribal or traditional village.
      1. The leader or head of a group, especially of a clan or tribe.
      2. A chief or leader, esp. of a clan or tribe
      1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:
      2. A person who possesses sovereign authority or power; specif., a monarch or ruler
      3. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
      1. A person having great power; ruler; monarch
      2. One who has the power and position to rule over others; a monarch.
      1. Used as a courtesy title for a younger son of a duke or marquis.
      2. A man who by courtesy or because of his office is given the title of Lord, as a bishop, a younger son of a duke or marquess, or a Lord Mayor
      3. A king.
      1. A state in its relation to a semiautonomous state over which it exercises political control
      2. A feudal lord to whom fealty was due.
      3. A feudal lord
      1. Anyone with overarching power or authority in a given domain.
      2. A lord ranking above other lords, esp. in the feudal system
      3. A lord having power or supremacy over other lords.
      1. A monarch butterfly.
      2. A sole and absolute ruler.
      3. A sovereign, such as a king or empress, often with constitutionally limited authority:
      1. Supreme authority or power:
      2. Sovereign power, dignity, or grandeur:
      3. The dignity or power of a sovereign
      1. A nobleman of the highest hereditary rank below that of prince
      2. A prince who rules an independent duchy
      3. The title of a duke.
      1. The supreme ruler of an empire
      2. The male ruler of an empire.
      3. The emperor moth.
      1. A chief of second rank among certain tribes of North American Indians
      1. A member of the ruling council of the Iroquois confederacy.
      2. A high official of the Tammany Society, a political organization in New York City.
      3. A chief of a Native American tribe or confederation, especially an Algonquian chief.
      1. A man who owns a pack of hounds or is the chief officer of a hunt.
      2. Used formerly as a title for a man holding a naval office ranking next below a lieutenant on a warship.
      3. In Scotland, the heir apparent of a viscount or baron
      1. An outstanding man, especially in a particular group or class:
      2. A ruler whose rank is below that of king; head of a principality
      3. A hereditary male ruler; a king.
      1. A person or thing that rules or governs
      2. A person or device that rules lines on paper, etc.
      3. One, such as a monarch or dictator, that rules or governs.
    See also:

    ruler

    king

© WEBSTER’S NEW WORLD® ROGET’S A-Z THESAURUS by Charlton Laird and the editors of Webster’s New World dictionaries. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Sentence Examples

  • He was the chief ruler of that great city.

  • Jenn is the chief of my spies.

  • I wouldn't be a good spy chief if I killed my sources.

  • Of course, we all know he's a doctor, but I have to say Indian Chief isn't too far off, either.

  • My chief says for us not to break our butts wasting any more time chasing him down.

More sentences →

Words that mention chief in the Dictionary

Words near chief in the Thesaurus