Chiefest

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. The person holding the utmost rank or authority within a group is recognized as the premier leader
2. This refers to the individual considered the most significant or principal in a specific context
3. Having the top position or highest status among others in a group or organization

Etymology: "Chiefest" is the superlative of "chief", and the word it grows from has a more striking history than its ending suggests. "Chief" traces back to Latin "caput", meaning "head", the same root that gave English words like "capital" and "decapitate". Latin "caput" became "capus" in Vulgar Latin, which passed into Old French as "chief", meaning head, and English borrowed it as "chef" in Middle English, meaning head or leader, before the spelling settled into "chief". The word thus began as a plain body part and became a term for rank. A head is the top of a body, and from that sense of being uppermost came the idea of the leader who sits above others. "Chief" then took on the sense of the most important or principal thing, the sense that "chiefest" carries when it stretches the adjective to its superlative degree.

Synonyms: principal, main, foremost, primary, leading

Antonyms: least, secondary, minor, insignificant