Standard Lemma guide

chieftess

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of chieftainess: a female chieftain or the wife of a chief.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • "This heroine was ever after treated by her nation as their deliverer, and made a chieftess in her own right, with the liberty to entail the same honour on her descendants ..." New travels among the Indians of North America, William Fisher, ed., p. 294; attributed to Rev. J. Hubbard. http://books.google.com/books?id=xcIRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA294&dq=chieftess&hl=en&ei=lUkqTMDcDsL58AaetZ3SCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
  • Loved by a Maori Chieftess (title of a 1913 film from New Zealand)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: chieftainess

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

An irregular form from chief or chieftain + -ess.