chieftain

1. 1.

   the leader of a group of people

   “a captain of industry”

   Synonymscaptain

   Broaderleader
2. 2.

   the head of a tribe or clan

   Synonymsheadmantribal chiefchief

   Broaderleader

   NarrowerIndian chiefpendragonGlendowerRollo

Other forms of chieftain

plural

chieftains·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about chieftain

What does chieftain mean?

chieftain means "the leader of a group of people". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in chieftain?

chieftain has 2 syllables: chief-tain. The stress falls on "chief". In IPA it is /ˈtʃiftən/.

What is another word for chieftain?

Close synonyms include captain, headman, tribal chief, chief. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is chieftain a common word?

chieftain is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.