Chief
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 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 geographical research, I have determined to name this noble peak of the Himalayas ‘Mont Everest.’"
- 2 a person who exercises control over workers wordnet
- 3 Headship, the status of being a chief or leader. uncountable
"Bob is our troubleshooter in chief."
- 4 a person who is in charge wordnet
- 5 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"."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 a head of a tribe or clan wordnet
- 7 The principal part or top of anything.
- 8 An informal term of address. ironic, sometimes
"“How old are you, chief?” the elevator guy said."
- 9 An informal term of address.; An informal term of address for a Native American or First Nations man. ironic, offensive, sometimes
- 1 To smoke cannabis. slang
- 1 Primary; principal.
"Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster."
- 2 Intimate, friendly. Scotland
"'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 alive, and it is equally unfitting for you to do her a favour like this now she's dead.'"
- 1 most important element wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"You don't have proper dignity as chief of the section."
Etymology
From Middle English cheef, chef, from Old French chef, chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput. 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.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.