chief justice

noun

: the presiding or principal judge of a court of justice

Examples of chief justice in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The chief justice asked for a response by Friday from the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Global Health Council, which had sued over the funding delays. David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2025 Jonathan Dienst Jonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York. Rich Schapiro, NBC News, 25 Feb. 2025 Stephen Field, a justice of the US Supreme Court, had a longstanding feud with David Terry, a former chief justice of California. Ian Millhiser, Vox, 20 Jan. 2025 The court’s Republican chief justice, Paul Newby, was a prominent supporter of Judge Griffin’s election campaign. Michael Wines, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for chief justice

Word History

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of chief justice was in 1534

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Cite this Entry

“Chief justice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chief%20justice. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

Kids Definition

chief justice

noun
: the presiding or principal judge of a court of justice

Legal Definition

chief justice

noun
: a chief judge of a usually higher level court
specifically, often capitalized : the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
chief justiceship noun

More from Merriam-Webster on chief justice

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