chiefdom

[cheef-duhm]

noun

1. the rank or office of a chief.

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of chiefdom¹

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."

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Mapela said that militants attacked Mesa, Cepac and Aumopro churches located near the shore of Lake Albert in the Bahema-Nord chiefdom.

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The victims, along with five others killed in a July 29 attack in the same chiefdom of Walese-Vilonkutu, have yet to be properly buried, Munyanderu said.

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Maki Lombe, a resident of the Bahema-Nord chiefdom, said he had seen “more than 40 bodies” lying on the ground.

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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.

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