attorney general

American  

noun

plural

attorneys general, attorney generals

1. the chief law officer of a country or state and head of its legal department. att. gen.

2. Attorney General, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice: a member of the president's cabinet. Atty. Gen.

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Attorney General ¹ British  

noun

1. (in the United Kingdom except Scotland) the senior law officer and chief legal counsel of the Crown: a member of the government and of the House of Commons

2. (in the US) the chief law officer and legal adviser to the Administration: head of the Department of Justice and member of the cabinet

3. (in Australia and New Zealand) the chief government law officer: a member of Parliament and usually a cabinet minister

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attorney general ² British  

noun

1. a country's chief law officer and senior legal adviser to its government

2. (in the US) the chief law officer and legal adviser of a state government

3. (in some states of the US) a public prosecutor

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Etymology

Origin of attorney general

First recorded in 1575–85

Compare meaning

How does attorney-general compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• solicitor general vs. attorney general

Example Sentences

Postal Inspection Service and/or your state attorney general.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 27, 2026

As we wrote last week, Pirro was refusing to do so, perhaps because she was trying to impress Trump into making her the next attorney general.

From Slate • Apr. 25, 2026

Moody had made his name as an anticorruption crusader during his tenure as the state’s attorney general: Borger’s cartoonish governmental lawlessness struck him as both a political liability and a moral affront.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 24, 2026

While Steyer and Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general, both said they would support such a ban, the remaining three candidates hedged or said they would not.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 23, 2026

By the summer of 1924, Harding’s successor, Calvin Coolidge, had gotten rid of Burns and appointed a new attorney general, Harlan Fiske Stone.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann