Home › Words › C › chieftaincychieftaincy/ˈtʃiːftənsi/chieftaincy means the position or period of rule of a chief.chieftaincy is pronounced /ˈtʃiːftənsi/.EtymologyFrom chieftain + -cy. Piecewise doublet of captaincy.nounThe position or period of rule of a chief.e.g.“At first Matenge had hated his brother because he felt the chieftaincy should be his, and this hatred drove him to overreach himself until he was discovered in a plot to assassinate his brother.” — 1969, Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather, Heinemann, published 1995, pages 40–41:The area or population ruled by a chief.e.g.“And it does not help that the lowermost part of Broadway was originally laid out as a footpath by the people of the Wickquasgeck chieftaincy, long before Europeans arrived.” — 2009 March 2, David W. Dunlap, “Broadway Traffic Cure Elusive Since the 1800s”, in New York Times:Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).Words closest in meaningBy meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.chieftainry 84% match — The role or status of chieftain. vs chieftaincy →chieftainship 82% match — The state of being a chieftain vs chieftaincy →chiefship 80% match — The role or position of a chief. vs chieftaincy →chiefdom 76% match — The role or status of chief. vs chieftaincy →chieftain 75% match — A leader of a clan or tribe. vs chieftaincy →chiefhood 74% match — The state of being a chief. vs chieftaincy →chiefery 73% match — The status or role of a chief; chieftainship. vs chieftaincy →chieftainly 71% match — Befitting a chieftain. vs chieftaincy →