czar

noun

ˈzär  ˈ(t)sär 

variants or less commonly tsar or tzar

1

: emperor

specifically : the ruler of Russia until the 1917 revolution

2

: one having great power or authority

a banking czar

czardom noun

or less commonly tsardom or tzardom

ˈzär-dəm 

ˈ(t)sär-

Synonyms

• baron
• captain
• king
• lion
• lord
• magnate
• mogul
• monarch
• Napoleon
• prince
• tycoon

Examples of czar in a Sentence

a showbiz czar who is said to be able to make or break a career

Recent Examples on the Web

Calls to 311 for rat sightings have declined – a 6.3% drop since the rat czar was appointed and almost a 14% decline in the city’s mitigation zones, the city boasted in a news release announcing the rat summit. —Eduardo Cuevas, USA TODAY, 6 Oct. 2024

On the national stage, Harris has acted as an AI czar within the Biden administration, leading discussions with industry players and civil society leaders about how to regulate it. —Lauren Feiner, The Verge, 3 Oct. 2024

Rahul Gupta, the White House drug czar, believes this shift is because public health and addiction treatment programs are finally working. —Brittney Melton, NPR, 18 Sep. 2024

The Biden administration’s Asia czar woke up one morning in 2022 to a long article in the local press about the U.S. running chemical and biological labs in Ukraine, a claim that Washington calls an outright lie. —Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 28 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

New Latin czar, from Russian tsar', from Old Russian tsĭsarĭ, from Goth kaisar, from Greek or Latin; Greek, from Latin Caesar — more at caesar

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

czar

noun

variants also tsar or tzar

ˈzär

1

: the ruler of Russia until the 1917 revolution

2

: one having great power or authority

a baseball czar

czardom noun

also tsardom or tzardom

ˈzärd-əm

Etymology

Latin czar "czar," from Russian tsar' (same meaning), from early Russian tsǐsarǐ, tsěsarǐ "emperor," from a Germanic word kaisar "emperor," derived from Latin Caesar (title of a line of Roman emperors after Augustus Caesar) see Word History at emperor