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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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This solved two critical problems for Blanche: His boss gets to claim victory while the acting attorney general can legally evade judicial accountability.
From Slate • Jun. 4, 2026
His only previous statewide race was his 2018 bid for attorney general.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 1, 2026
Florida's attorney general on Monday sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, accusing the company's ChatGPT chatbot of endangering young users by making them addicted and encouraging harmful behaviors.
From Barron's • Jun. 1, 2026
OpenAI’s explosive growth has come on the back of a “web of deceit and the exploitation of users,” alleges Florida’s attorney general in a new lawsuit.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 1, 2026
He had risen from lawyer to US congressman to secretary of war to his appointment in March 1919 as US attorney general.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
