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# chief

«chief» in Mova's school dictionary: **The leader or head of a group, such as a tribe…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a chief, chiefs); adjective (chief)

### meaning for a pupil

1) The leader or head of a group, such as a tribe, organisation or police force (the fire chief). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#m1)

2) Most important; main (the chief reason). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#m2)

3) Highest in rank (chief executive, chief inspector). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#m3)

4) (informal) A friendly word for a man, like «mate» or «boss» (Alright, chief?). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In history and stories: the chief of a tribe or clan. In everyday life: police chief, chief of staff, head chef. In formal writing: «the chief cause of the problem». Phrases: commander-in-chief, editor-in-chief, chief among.

### examples

- The chief of the village welcomed us. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x1)
- The fire chief told everyone to leave the building. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x2)
- Our chief worry is the weather. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x3)
- She is the chief executive of a big company. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x4)
- Rain was the chief reason we stayed inside. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x5)
- Cheers, chief! (informal) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x6)
- “Stay with us, Chief,” Caelte begged. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/#x7)

### note

Spelling: i before e (chief). Plural: chiefs (not chieves). As an adjective it comes before the noun: the chief problem. Adverb: chiefly (mainly).

### In the corpora

- [Through the door they hear the Chief Weasel making a speech about «our kind host, Mr.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/70-willows-ch12-part1-the-secret-passage-at-night/11/)
- [The Chief Weasel's speech: «I should like to say one word about our kind host, Mr.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/70-willows-ch12-part1-the-secret-passage-at-night/31/)
- [He nods hard, but he is sure it means the great Chief is surrounded by enemies with spears.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/85-justso-first-letter-2-the-whole-tribe-comes/1/)
- [The ladies fill the poor man's hair with mud, bang the tribal drums and call every chief of the Tribe.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/85-justso-first-letter-2-the-whole-tribe-comes/7/)
- [The whole Tribe has come, chiefs and all, armed to the teeth, shouting and frightening every fish for twenty miles.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/85-justso-first-letter-2-the-whole-tribe-comes/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «chief» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/chief/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.