chief executive

American  

[cheef ig-zek-yuh-tiv] / ˈtʃif ɪgˈzɛk jə tɪv /

noun

• chief executives
  plural

1. the president of the United States.

   the powers of the chief executive, as granted by the Constitution.

2. the governor of a U.S. state.

   the newly elected chief executive of Rhode Island.

3. the head of a government.

   a conference attended by all the European chief executives.

4. Also called chief executive officer. the head of an organization, company, etc..

   the chief executive of a media corporation.

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chief executive British  

noun

1. the person with overall responsibility for the efficient running of a company, organization, etc

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• chief executives
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of chief executive

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

chief executive

Part of the "magic" is that customers can bring in a garment and "choose what they'd like it to become next", says Toast chief executive Suzie de Rohan Willner.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Brian Armstrong, chief executive of rival exchange Coinbase, said his team was assisting with the response, including blocking transfers to compromised wallets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

That demand has made Nvidia the world's most valuable company by market capitalization and turned chief executive Jensen Huang into AI's kingmaker.

From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026

The chief executive of the state’s high-speed rail authority abruptly resigned late Wednesday ahead of a critical board vote over a key portion of the route.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026

Since there had never been a republican chief executive, there was no readily available vocabulary to characterize such a creature, except the verbal traditions that had built up around European courts and kings.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

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