the chief law officer of a country or state and head of its legal department. att. gen.
Attorney General, the head of the U.S. Department of Justice: a member of the president's cabinet. Atty. Gen.
(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
(in the US) the chief law officer and legal adviser to the Administration: head of the Department of Justice and member of the cabinet
(in Australia and New Zealand) the chief government law officer: a member of Parliament and usually a cabinet minister
a country's chief law officer and senior legal adviser to its government
(in the US) the chief law officer and legal adviser of a state government
(in some states of the US) a public prosecutor
First recorded in 1575–85
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By then the three-term attorney general had won statewide re-election twice, in 2018 and 2022, after having been indicted in 2015, his first year in office, for securities fraud.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
At the time, Todd Blanche still headed the office, before assuming the role of acting attorney general in April.
From Salon • Jun. 10, 2026
“I’m against voter suppression. I’m against anything that would try to limit a Californian’s right to vote,” said Becerra, who formerly served as California’s attorney general.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026
In his first interview with BBC Radio 4's Political Thinking, the attorney general said people had always underestimated the prime minister.
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
The hostility began in 1789, when Burr accepted the office of attorney general in New York from Governor George Clinton after campaigning for Hamilton’s candidate, who lost.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
