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This defensive pattern was already apparent in a sixteenth-century Portuguese account of a battle in Guinea between the slaver state of Cassanga (allied to the Portuguese) and the followers of a local chieftain, King Bambara.—Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025 The season 2 finale, which premiered in September 2022, killed off Spear himself after a battle with a Viking chieftain.—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Oct. 2025 The moai statues were built in honor of chieftains and other important people who had died.—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 8 Oct. 2025 Yep, the Earl of Mar is a Jacobite and by the next day wants every clan chieftain there to declare their allegiance (or lack thereof) to the Stewart cause.—Kimberly Roots, TVLine, 26 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for chieftain
Word History
Etymology
Middle English chieftaine, from Anglo-French chevetain, from Late Latin capitaneus chief — more at captain
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