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

Attorney General Pam Bondi told ABC's chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas last week that there was new information that came to light in the files, but declined to say what that new information was. —Luke Barr, ABC News, 25 Nov. 2025

Aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drew the ire of Rhode Island’s governor and state Supreme Court chief justice this week when a high school intern was detained and questioned before being released. —Taylor Galgano Caroll Alvarado, CNN Money, 22 Nov. 2025

Jonathan Dienst Jonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York. —Tom Winter, NBC news, 21 Nov. 2025

The chief justice of the Supreme Court will have her salary increase from $233,097 to $240,090, while the six associate justices on the court will see their pay go up from $215,843 to $222,318. —Arkansas Online, 14 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for chief justice

• injustice

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