chief

/t͡ʃiːf/

chief noun: the leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group.

Noun

chief (plural chiefs)

The leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group.
- In virtue of this privilege, in testimony of my affectionate respect for a revered chief, in conformity with what I believe to be the wish of all the Members of the scientific department, over which I have the honour to preside, and to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of accurate...1857 May 11 [1856 March 1], A. S. Waugh, Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, page 346
- My father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief by both blood and custom.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 4
Synonyms:

leader, head, director, commander, governor, boss, administrator, manager
(uncountable) Headship, the status of being a chief or leader.
- Bob is our troubleshooter in chief.
The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third.
- When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry
- The shield was silver, charged with a red cross voided (that is, with the centre cut out and only the edges left), between in chief (that is, above the horizontal limb of the cross) two black dragon's wings, and in base two red daggers, and in the centre of the cross a black winged helmet; on a red...1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, page 479
The principal part or top of anything.
(ironic, sometimes) An informal term of address.
- “How old are you, chief?” the elevator guy said.1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 119
1. (ironic, offensive, sometimes) An informal term of address for a Native American or First Nations man.

Adjective

chief (comparative chiefer or more chief, superlative chiefest or most chief)

Primary; principal.
- Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.
- […] But when we find that they [volcanoes] are but few in Number, and the chiefeſt of thoſe too near the torrid Zone, and from their Tops to iſſue forth, now clear Fire, then thick, black Smoke, and ſometimes little or nothing at all; we muſt conclude, that they are only particular Fires, probably...1727, Tobias Swinden, “The Improbability of Hell Fire’s Being in, or about the Center of the Earth”, in An Enquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell. […] With a Supplement, wherein the Notions of...
(Scotland) Intimate, friendly.
- 'You’re doing it because she was your friend, not because she was a parishioner, and certainly not because of the Declaratory Articles,' Macmurray said, pushing himself forward on his seat. 'Everybody knows how chief you and she were. It was an unfitting relationship for a minister while she was...2006, James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack, page 324

Verb

chief (third-person singular simple present chiefs, present participle chiefing, simple past and past participle chiefed)

(slang) To smoke cannabis.

Proper noun capitalized: Chief

Chief

A township in Mahnomen County, Minnesota, United States.

chief meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

chief in Hindi

leader of group, etc.: मुखिया mukhiyā, प्रधान pradhān, श्रेष्ठ śreṣṭh, मुख्य mukhya, शेख śekh, मालिक mālik
head of an organization: मुखिया mukhiyā, रईस raīs, शेख śekh, सरदार sardār, प्रमुख pramukh, प्रधान pradhān
primary; principal: प्रमुख pramukh, मुख्य mukhya, प्रधान pradhān, श्रेष्ठ śreṣṭh

chief in Tamil

leader of group, etc.: தலைவன் talaivaṉ

chief in Marathi

chief, principal, main: प्रमुख pramukh
chief, main, principal: प्रधान pradhān
chief, head of a village: पाटील pāṭīl
chief, leader, commander: नायक nāyak

chief in Urdu

chief: مہر mahar, سر sar
chief, ruler: رائس rāis
chief, head; host: صدر sadr

More languagesFewer languages

chief in Bengali: অগ্র ôgrô, অগ্রীয় ôgriẏô, মোড়ল mōṛol, প্রধান prodhan
chief in Telugu: మూల mūla, ముఖ్యము mukhyamu, నాయుడు nāyuḍu, ప్రధానము pradhānamu
chief in Malayalam: തലവൻ talavaṉ, നേതാവ് nētāvŭ
chief in Kannada: ಪಾಟೀಲ pāṭīla, ಪ್ರಭು prabhu
chief in Punjabi: سردار sardār, ਸਰਦਾਰ sardār, ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ prdhān
chief in Gujarati: પ્રધાન pradhān
chief in Odia: ଶେଠ śeṭha, ପରା parā, ମହା mahā, ଗଣ୍ଠି gaṇṭhi
chief in Sanskrit: शिरस् śíras, प्रधान pradhāna
chief in Sinhala: වරෙණ්ය wareṇya
chief in Nepali: प्रमुख pramukh
chief in Pashto: ملک malak
chief in Tagalog: puno
chief in Arabic: شَيْخ šayḵ, قَائِد qāʔid, رَئِيس raʔīs, مُدِير mudīr
chief in Persian: سرگروه sargoruh, سردسته sardaste, رئیس re'is, سریاک saryāk

Examples of chief in a sentence

All firefighters report to the fire chief.
Researchers found that one of the chief effects of drinking was to reduce people's ability to monitor their own behavior.2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, →ISBN, page 113:
'Everybody knows how chief you and she were.2006, James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack, page 324:

All 40 example sentences with chief

Synonyms of chief

All synonyms of chief

Forms of chief

Noun
plural	chiefs
Adjective
comparative	chiefer
comparative	more chief
superlative	chiefest
superlative	most chief
Verb
third-person singular present	chiefs
present participle	chiefing
past participle	chiefed
past	chiefed

Plural of chief: chiefs

Origin of chief

Inherited from Middle English chef, borrowed from Old French chief, from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput, from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput, from *kap-, possibly from *kap-, possibly borrowed from a substrate language. Doublet of cape (“point of land”), capo, caput, and chef through Latin (possibly also related to cape (“sleeveless garment”) and cap (“head covering”) from Latin cappa); doublet of head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

Named after an Ojibwe chieftain, or chief.

Words formed from chief

Phrases with chief

65 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with chief

17 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chief

What does chief mean?: Chief means the leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group.
What is chief in Hindi?: Chief in Hindi is मुखिया (mukhiyā), प्रधान (pradhān), श्रेष्ठ (śreṣṭh). See Chief meaning in Hindi.
How do you use chief in a sentence?: All firefighters report to the fire chief.
What part of speech is chief?: Chief can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce chief?: Chief is pronounced /t͡ʃiːf/.
What is the plural of chief?: The plural of chief is chiefs.

Words near chief in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chief.ogg.

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