too many chiefs and not enough Indians

chief | American Dictionary

chief
adjective[ not gradable ]
us/tʃif/

chiefadjective[not gradable] (MOST IMPORTANT)

most important:
Their chief objection to the appointment was that she had no judicial experience.

chiefadjective[not gradable] (PERSON IN CHARGE)

highest in position or power:
the chief economist/engineer/nurse
He is chairman and chief executive of the company.
chief
noun[ C ]
us/tʃif/

chiefnoun[C] (PERSON IN CHARGE)

the person in charge of a group or organization, or the ruler of a tribe (= a group of families):
the chief of police

chief | Business English

chief
adjective
uk /tʃiːf/us
biggest or most important; main:
Our chief concern right now is getting all these goods out onto the shelves.
Coffee and rice are the country's chief exports.
highest in rank:
the chief accountant/security officer
chief
noun[ C ]
uk /tʃiːf/us
a person who is in charge of a group or organization:
a police/fire chief
the chief of police

Examples of chief

chief
Though chiefs and chieftaincy are considered traditional artefacts of society, they require the invigorating authorisation and recognition of the state to operate with validity.
Since 1979, there have been no female chiefs.
As many respondents articulated, chiefs only have power if they are with the people.
Beginning in the early 1990s, chiefs began to allow their communities to ' elect ' izinduna and traditional councillors.
Rather than resist the implementation of new rules and practices, many chiefs have attempted to recast themselves as the ' authentic representatives ' of local communities.
In addition, there are many examples where the elected councillor serves as part of the chief's isigungu as well.
Like elected village chiefs, the currently nominated mayors find themselves in an ambiguous situation.
Alternatively the resident sends a representative, accompanied by the deputy chiefs of the same seven villages, to investigate and resolve the case.
Most of the assistant investigative squad chiefs served concurrently as guard battalion chiefs.
Neither the ' urban politicians ', the ' rural farmers ', nor the ' traditional chiefs ' were homogeneous groups, as a wide range of recent studies have sought to show.
According to this argument, chiefs who accepted bribes were guilty of violating custom.
They and the major chiefs conducted sowing and first fruit rituals.
Contrast this with the following estimated numbers of chiefs (no names) which are much higher.
In normal parlance, chiefs who are forced to abdicate are destooled, not de-skinned.
In the villages, however, the regime run by these administrators and chiefs appeared neglectful, capriciously oppressive and deeply corrupt.
See all examples of chief
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations withchief

chief

These are words often used in combination with chief.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

acting chief
Its actingchief executive said as much on the radio recently.
From the
Hansard archive