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Definition of chief noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

chief

noun
 
/tʃiːf/
 
/tʃiːf/
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  1. a person with a high rank or the highest rank in a company or an organization
    • army/police chiefs
    • She is Washington bureau chief for ‘USA Today’.
    • industry chiefs
    • education chiefs at Sheffield Council
    • chief of somebody/something He served as chief of police between 2012 and 2019.
    • our new chief of operations
    see also Big Chief, crew chief, editor-in-chief, fire chief
    Extra Examples
    • Sanger was appointed chief of the Fire Department.
    • Health chiefs say waiting times are down.
    • Politicians are demanding the resignation of the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
    • Security chiefs are keeping their men on full alert after the bomb threat.
    • We spoke to a former CIA chief of European operations.
    Topics People in societyb2, Jobsb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • tribal
    • village
    • army
    verb + chief
    • appoint (somebody)
    • become
    • name somebody
    phrases
    • chief of police
    • chief of staff
    See full entry
  2. (often as a title) a leader of a people or community
    • Chief Buthelezi
    • Chief Crazy Horse
    Topics People in societyb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • tribal
    • village
    • army
    verb + chief
    • appoint (somebody)
    • become
    • name somebody
    phrases
    • chief of police
    • chief of staff
    See full entry
  3. Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French chief, chef, based on Latin caput ‘head’.
See chief in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee chief in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
aspiration
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