attorney general

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.

Attorney General

¹

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

attorney general

²

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of attorney general¹

First recorded in 1575–85

Example Sentences

The civil suit brought by Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, was a particularly grotesque abuse of a prosecutor’s power.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

That’s doubtless because the biggest story of the past week has involved Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, fantasizing in leaked text messages about the murder of a political opponent and his family.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The attorney general does much better with that other mean girl skill: Flattering the egos of dim but powerful men.

Read more on Salon

The new lawsuit filed by the California attorney general lays out a year’s worth of instances in which Sable either ignored or defied the California Water Code during the firm’s pipeline repair work.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The cardroom industry claims the games are legal and that the attorney general’s office has approved each of them over the years.

Read more on Los Angeles Times