Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The leader or head of a group, especially of a clan or tribe.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A captain, leader, or commander; a chief; the head of a troop, army, or clan.
- n. Synonyms Commander, Leader, etc. See chief.
Wiktionary
- n. A leader of a clan or tribe.
- n. A leader of a group, e.g. a robbers' chieftain.
- n. capitalized The name of a British military tank.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A captain, leader, or commander; a chief; the head of a troop, army, or clan.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the head of a tribe or clan
- n. the leader of a group of people
Etymologies
- From Middle English cheftayne, a variant of Old French chevetaine, from Late Latin capitaneus (English captain), from Latin caput ("head"), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English cheftain, from Old French chevetain, from Late Latin capitāneus, from Latin caput, head; see kaput- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“During these various operations – for the whole family seemed eager to show their hospitality – the old man discovered, not so much by the costliness of his garments as by the noble mien and gentle manners of the stranger, that he was some chieftain from the castle.”
“The rebel-chieftain is let go with the honors of war.”
“Whenever a chieftain was assigned, an item authenticating his rank (xinwu) was given to him by the court, symbolizing the establishment of the relationship.”
Between Winds and Clouds: The Making of Yunnan (Second Century BCE to Twentieth Century CE)
“It seems that there was a certain Irish chieftain named Dichu who was told that a strange ship had just landed.”
“A chieftain must be rooted in the clan, for the chieftain is the clan.”
“Philosophique, &c., tom.i. p. 457.] 80 This Gothic chieftain is called by Jornandes and Isidore, Athaulphus; by Zosimus and”
“Do not forbid them entry; they have the manner of earls, and from his bearing their chieftain is a mighty warrior.”
“Living with the chieftain were his wife and daughter, the latter just budding into womanhood.”
“The chieftain was a youth who had just succeeded his father over his people and was on his way to Memphis bearing tribute to Meneptah.”
“To him physical cowardice was the unforgivable sin, next to treachery to his lord; for the loyalty of thane to his chieftain was a very deep and abiding reality to the Anglo-Saxon warrior, and in the early poems of our English race, love for "his dear lord, his chieftain-friend," takes the place of that love of woman which other races felt and expressed.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chieftain’.
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POL - people in power
daredevil, tzar, king, boss, master, commander, chief, kingpin, top banana, bigwig, big cheese, big wheel and 452 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Masthead Staples
Words from newspaper names/titles. Not the place names or titles of specific publications, just the reusable bits.
times, courier, advocate, news, telegraph, mirror, mail, bulletin, the, post, tribune, chronical and 108 more...
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Take Me To Your Whosit
About leaders, particularly the authority-figure at the top of the tree.
leader, chief, boss, cap'n, executive, president, head, tsar, alpha male, alpha female, conductor, dean and 127 more...
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newspaper names
Feel free to combine these in any way to create your own newspaper. Use lots of hyphens! (And yes, these are all used at real newspapers.)
times, union, post, dispatch, outlook, star, news, courier, herald, advertiser, daily, eagle and 178 more...
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People
mercenaries, martyr, coterie, inquirer, villager, chieftain, defeatist, muralist, metatron, mercenary, zeitgeist, advocate and 3 more...
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Who's in charge here?
honcho, chieftain, viceroy, tsar, sultan, sovereign, shogun, sheikh, shah, regent, ranee, rajah and 15 more...
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rulers, leaders & politicians
caliph, samurai, dynastic, captain, queen, potentate, mikado, kaiser, sovereign, majesty, shah, raja and 46 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for chieftain.
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