chief executive

noun

: a principal executive: such as

a

: the president of a republic

b

: the governor of a state

c

: ceo

Examples of chief executive in a Sentence

The President is the chief executive of the U.S.

Recent Examples on the Web

The data set shows the Hong Kong chief executive is the second-highest earner ​globally with $719,000 annually, followed by the Swiss president at $606,000. — Reuters, NBC news, 9 Sep. 2026

Lina Souloukou, the chief executive officer, stepped down from her role on June 5, after initially being appointed in January last year. — Paul Taylor, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Nike’s decline has been ongoing for several years, going back to the days of former chief executive officer John Donahoe pushed forth on a direct-to-consumer focus in June 2020 that saw Nike pull out of some wholesale channels. — Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 8 Sep. 2026

Trump praised at length Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial firm that had been housed at the World Trade Center. — Seung Min Kim, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1793, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for chief executive

• consecutive

Kids Definition

chief executive

noun

: a principal executive: as

a

: the president of a republic

b

: the governor of a state

c

: ceo