Chief
Chief adjective - Coming before all others in importance.
Usage example: our chief priority this year will be cutting the budget
Key is a synonym for chief in main topic. In some cases you can use "Key" instead the word "Chief" as an adjective or a noun, when it comes to topics like important, essential, supreme, major. popular alternative
Nearby Word: chiefly
Key
Key adjective - Coming before all others in importance.
Usage example: maintains that Sir Isaac Newton remains the key figure in physical science
Chief is a synonym for key in essential topic. You can use "Chief" instead the word "Key" as an adjective or a noun, if it concerns topics such as main, important, supreme, major. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
Both words in one sentence
- Within a year, Jobs and his NeXT colleagues had purged Apple executives from all the key positions (although the chief accountant remained — which may tell you something about chief accountants).
Source: Vetinari Job Security -
One of the key plot points in the series is that the three chief gods (Zeus, Posiedon, and Hades) aren't supposed to father any more demi-gods—in no small part because their recent offspring included every major player in World War II.
Source: Beethoven Was an Alien Spy -
The Simpsons, "This Little Wiggy": Chief Wiggum has a police master key that opens any door in Springfield.
Source: Skeleton Key
Cite this Source
Key and Chief. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 14, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/key
Chief & Key. N.p., 2016. Web. 14 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/key>.
Key or Chief. 2016. Accessed August 14, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/key.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "chief" and "key" have occurred on timeline