Chief
Chief noun - The person (as an employer or supervisor) who tells people and especially workers what to do.
Usage example: our chief is out on a business trip right now
Nearby Word: chiefly
Underling
Underling noun - One who is of lower rank and typically under the authority of another.
Usage example: the real estate tycoon has a whole army of underlings to attend to the details
How words are described
| complete | complete chief | complete underling |
| current | current chief | current underling |
| honorable | honorable chief | honorable underling |
| corrupt | corrupt chief | corrupt underling |
| Other adjectives: incompetent, little, new, traitorous, former, mysterious, competent. | ||
Both words in one sentence
- Put on a Bus to Hell: Danny Nyland gets demoted from ER chief to ER underling for sleeping with a patient's fiancee.
Source: Series / Chicago Hope - Chief Bodyguard Cha refuses his underling's suggestion to carry a gun to the party, saying that President Park doesn't like the sight of guns when he's drinking and relaxing.
Source: Chekhovs Gun / Film -
But as bad as Xenon is, his underling Quantax, the Dragon-in-Chief of the piece, is far worse.
Source: Bad Boss
Cite this Source
Underling and Chief. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/underling
Chief & Underling. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/underling>.
Underling or Chief. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/chief/underling.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "chief" and "underling" have occurred on timeline