different between chief vs dominant

English

Etymology

From Middle English chef, borrowed from Old French chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (English cap (“head covering”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?i?f/
• Rhymes: -i?f

Noun

chief (plural chiefs)

2. A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc. [from 13th c.]
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 4:

     My father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief by both blood and custom.

   All firefighters report to the fire chief.

3. (heraldry) The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third. [from 15th c.]
   • 1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

     When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".

4. The principal part or top of anything.
5. An informal term of address, sometimes ironic.

   Hey, chief.

Synonyms

• chieftain
• chiefess (female chief)
• See also Thesaurus:boss

Derived terms

Pages starting with “chief”.

Related terms

• captain
• chef
• chieftain

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (ch?fu)
• ? Swahili: chifu

Translations

Adjective

chief (comparative chiefer or more chief, superlative chiefest or most chief)

1. Primary; principal.
2. (Scotland) Intimate, friendly.
   • 2006, James Robertson: The Testament of Gideon Mack, p 324:

     'You’re doing it because she was your friend, not because she was a parishioner, and certainly not because of the Declaratory Articles,' Macmurray said, pushing himself forward on his seat. 'Everybody knows how chief you and she were. It was an unfitting relationship for a minister while she was alive, and it is equally unfitting for you to do her a favour like this now she's dead.'

Translations

Verb

chief (third-person singular simple present chiefs, present participle chiefing, simple past and past participle chiefed)

1. (US, slang) To smoke cannabis.
   • 2012, Marquis "Cream" Cureton, When the Smoke Clears (page 268)

     He chiefed on the bud like a pro, taking long deep hits and holding it within until he had inhaled as much of the weed smoke as he could.

See also

• chef

Anagrams

• cheif, fiche, fiché

Middle English

Noun

chief

1. Alternative form of chef

Adjective

chief

1. Alternative form of chef

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chief.

Noun

chief m (plural chiefs)

1. head

Descendants

• French: chef (see there for further descendants)

Old French

Alternative forms

• cap (La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)
• chef, cief

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. From Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?je?f/

Noun

chief m (oblique plural chiés, nominative singular chiés, nominative plural chief)

1. (anatomy) head
   • circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:

     Le chief li desarme et la face.

     He exposed his head and his face.

2. leader, chief
3. front (foremost side of something)

Descendants

• Middle French: chief
  • French: chef (see there for further descendants)
• Norman: chef
• ? Middle English: chef
  • English: chief
  • Scots: chief
• ? Old Spanish: xefe
  • Spanish: jefe, gefe
    • ? English: jefe
    • ? Cebuano: hepe
  • ? Asturian: xefe
  • ? Galician: xefe
  • ? Portuguese: chefe

English

Etymology

From Middle French dominant.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d?m?n?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?m?n?nt/

Noun

dominant (plural dominants)

1. (music) The fifth major tone of a musical scale (five major steps above the note in question); thus G is the dominant of C, A of D, and so on.
2. (music) The triad built on the dominant tone.
3. (genetics) A gene that is dominant.
   • 1930, R. A. Fisher, J. H. Bennett, The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (page 50)

     Finally, if we suppose provisionally that the mutant genes are dominant just as often as they are recessive, selection will be far more severe in eliminating the disadvantageous dominants than in eliminating the disadvantageous recessives.

4. A species or organism that is dominant.
   • 1966, John R. Bassett, Southern Forest Experiment Station (New Orleans, La.), Thinning loblolly pine from above and below

     Landowners cannot afford to cut submerchantable trees, yet many hesitate to cut merchantable dominants and codominants at the risk of downgrading the residual stand.

5. (BDSM) The dominating partner in sadomasochistic sexual activity.
   • 2011, Jayne Rylon, Mistress's Master (page 65)

     His story was a fable you told dominants in training to stress the importance of comprehending the depths of your submissive's needs.

Synonyms

• dominator

Translations

Adjective

dominant (comparative more dominant, superlative most dominant)

1. Ruling; governing; prevailing

   The dominant party controlled the government.
2. Predominant, common, prevalent, of greatest importance.

   The dominant plants of the Carboniferous were lycopods and early conifers.

   • 2009, H. Stephen Stoker, General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry, page 10

     All other elements are mere "impurities" when their abundances are compared with those of these two dominant elements.

3. (medicine) Designating the follicle which will survive atresia and permit ovulation.

Synonyms

• (ruling, governing): imposing
• (predominant, common): prevalent

Antonyms

• (ruling): obedient, submissive (one who obeys); defiant, rebellious (one who defys)

Translations

Catalan

Adjective

dominant (masculine and feminine plural dominants)

1. dominant

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French dominant, from Middle French dominant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?do?.mi?n?nt/
• Hyphenation: do?mi?nant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

dominant (comparative dominanter, superlative dominantst)

1. dominant

   Synonym: overheersend

2. (genetics) dominant

Inflection

Derived terms

• dominantie

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?.mi.n??/

Verb

dominant

1. present participle of dominer

Adjective

dominant (feminine singular dominante, masculine plural dominants, feminine plural dominantes)

1. dominant

Derived terms

• vent dominant

Further reading

• “dominant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

dominant (comparative dominanter, superlative am dominantesten)

1. dominant

Declension

Further reading

• “dominant” in Duden online

Romanian

Etymology

From French dominant.

Adjective

dominant m or n (feminine singular dominant?, masculine plural dominan?i, feminine and neuter plural dominante)

1. dominant

Declension