chiefdom

American  

[cheef-duhm] / ˈtʃif dəm /

noun

1. the rank or office of a chief.

2. the territory or people over which a chief rules.

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Etymology

Origin of chiefdom

First recorded in 1570–80; chief + -dom

Example Sentences

As Baumgartel explained, "We believe these people were egalitarian hunter-gatherers, not subjects to some powerful chiefdom."

From Science Daily • Nov. 24, 2025

Archaeologists believe Tequesta, which straddled both banks of the Miami River, became the capital of a chiefdom that stretched across southeast Florida from roughly 500 B.C.E. to the 1500s C.E.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 10, 2023

Under the Piscataway chiefdom, other tribes — including the Yaocomico, Mattawoman, Pamunkey, Mattaponi and Nanjemoy — were interconnected with their own systems of justice, governing and defending themselves.

From Washington Post • Nov. 7, 2022

While Pocahontas eventually married John Rolfe, moved to England and converted to Christianity, she likely knew that her father Powhatan’s chiefdom encompassed much of the Chesapeake Bay area.

From Washington Times • Mar. 19, 2018

For any ranked society, whether a chiefdom or a state, one thus has to ask: why do the commoners tolerate the transfer of the fruits of their hard labor to kleptocrats?

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond