chieftain
Americannoun
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chieftains
plural
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the chief of a clan or a tribe.
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a leader of a group, band, etc..
the robbers' chieftain.
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Military. Chieftain, Britain's main battle tank since 1969, fitted with a 120 mm gun and two machine guns and weighing 55 tons (50 metric tons).
noun
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the head or leader of a tribe or clan
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the chief of a group of people
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of chieftain
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English cheftayne, variant of chevetaine, from Old French, from Late Latin capitāneus “chief”; see captain
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Datu Atom Malimpnig, a Maguindanaon chieftain, said the newly formed coastline had left the group of fishermen and their families hesitant to return to their now-destroyed homes.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
The most straightforward, and successful, parts recount the 1836 abduction of a Mexican rancher’s wife named Camila by an Apache band led by the larger-than-life chieftain Mangas Coloradas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
In the latter respects, the series also resembles “Game of Thrones,” where Momoa spent two seasons as chieftain Khal Drogo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2025
Charity Adams, changed back to “Fort Lee,” I can only imagine how the SCV and others would respond to a re-renaming after any Lee other than their holy Confederate chieftain.
From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2025
Dúnhere, chieftain of the folk of Harrowdale, was at their head.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Private-credit chieftains including Apollo CEO Marc Rowan and Blackstone President Jon Gray said last year that these were isolated cases and that fears of wider stresses in private credit are overblown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
Zero rates took the pressure off corporate chieftains to restructure, innovate, and take risks, as Japan Inc. did before QE arrived.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
On the other hand, the possibly revolutionary impact from artificial intelligence argues that maybe it is still early days, no matter how abrasively these chieftains behave.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2025
Porter’s national prominence grew when, during congressional hearings, she grilled Trump administration officials and corporate chieftains using her whiteboard to make esoteric policy understandable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025
Then he persuaded—and had a great difficulty in doing so—certain of the chieftains to hide inside it, along with himself, of course.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
