czar

American  

[zahr, tsahr] / zɑr, tsɑr /

Or tsar,

noun

• czars
  plural

1. an emperor or king.

2. (often initial capital letter) the former emperor of Russia.

3. an autocratic ruler or leader.

4. any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field.

   a czar of industry.

---

czar British  

/ zɑː /

noun

1. a variant spelling (esp US) of tsar

---

czar Cultural  

1. The title of rulers or emperors of Russia from the sixteenth century until the Russian Revolution. The czars ruled as absolute monarchs (see absolute monarchy) until the early twentieth century, when a parliament was established in Russia. Czar can also be spelled tsar.

---

Discover More

The term czar is sometimes applied generally to a powerful leader or to a government administrator with wide-ranging powers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• czardom
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• czars
  plural

Etymology

Origin of czar

First recorded in 1545–55; from Russian tsar', Old Russian tsĭsarĭ “emperor, king” (akin to Old Church Slavonic tsěsarĭ ), from Gothic kaisar “emperor” (from Greek or Latin ); Greek kaîsar, from Latin Caesar; see Caesar ( def. )

Explanation

Czar is a Russian word for ruler or emperor. Those kinds of czars are long gone, but we still use the word to describe people in charge of something important. Up until the early 20th century, the ruler in Russia was a man called a czar who had total power, like an emperor or dictator. In English, czar has hung around as a word for anyone in charge of anything. If you run a book club, you might jokingly call yourself a book czar. In the U.S. government, people in charge of large departments are often called czars — like the housing czar or labor czar.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

czar czars

Now he was “The Chief,” the unquestioned czar of the city’s water department, with vast sway.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

A czar who can be overruled overnight on the central tactics of his own operation is not a czar.

From Salon ● Jul. 21, 2026

It was signed in La Paz less than two weeks after the Bolivian president named the country's "drug czar" Ernesto Justiniano as the new defence minister.

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

His former AI czar had reportedly called Trump directly to raise objections.

From Barron's ● May 22, 2026

At first I thought that I might have found a surrogate father in the czar of sausage, the mogul of meat.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

It’s the foundation for the entire sovereign debt market — and is so widely honored that in 2002, Russia was still paying obligations from the time of the czars.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

She expected to find that the Russian president spoke of the czars “a couple of dozen times,” Ms. Graaf recalls; perhaps she could base an academic paper on it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

Urban renewal czars also cleared out lively urban neighborhoods from Boston to Los Angeles, and no major city was untouched by the urban expressway craze.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2024

Elsewhere in Bellevue, salad czars Evergreens opened its 14th Washington location in Factoria Village.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 21, 2023

These were the secret, underground tactics of the political movement of the Communists under the czars of Old Russia!

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

Related Words

• ruler