Chief vs. Main

Chiefnoun

A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.

‘All firefighters report to the fire chief.’;

Mainadjective

Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal.

Chiefnoun

(heraldry) The top part of a shield or escutcheon.

Mainadjective

Chief, most important, or principal in extent, size, or strength; consisting of the largest part.

‘main timbers’; ‘main branch of a river’; ‘main body of an army’;

Chiefnoun

An informal address to an equal.

‘Hey, chief.’;

Mainadjective

Full, sheer, undivided.

Chiefadjective

Primary; principal.

‘Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.’;

Mainadjective

(dialectal) Big; angry.

Chiefverb

To smoke cannabis.

Mainadjective

(nautical) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a vessel.

Chiefnoun

The head or leader of any body of men; a commander, as of an army; a head man, as of a tribe, clan, or family; a person in authority who directs the work of others; the principal actor or agent.

Mainadjective

(obsolete) Great in size or degree; important, powerful, strong, vast.

Chiefnoun

The principal part; the most valuable portion.

‘The chief of the things which should be utterly destroyed.’;

Mainadverb

Exceedingly, extremely, greatly, mightily, very, very much.

Chiefnoun

The upper third part of the field. It is supposed to be composed of the dexter, sinister, and middle chiefs.

Mainverb

(transitive) lang=en

Chiefadjective

Highest in office or rank; principal; head.

Mainverb

To mainly play a specific character, or side, during a game.

‘He mains the same character as me in that game.’; ‘What race do you main and what is your favourite race to beat?’;

Chiefadjective

Principal or most eminent in any quality or action; most distinguished; having most influence; taking the lead; most important; as, the chief topic of conversation; the chief interest of man.

Mainverb

(obsolete) Of a road: to convert into a main or primary road.

Chiefadjective

Very intimate, near, or close.

‘A whisperer separateth chief friends.’;

Mainnoun

That which is chief or principal; the chief or main portion; the bulk, the greater part, gross.

Chiefnoun

a person who is in charge;

‘the head of the whole operation’;

Mainnoun

(video gaming) The primary character that one plays in a video game in which one can play more than one character.

‘My WoW main has reached level cap and I’m on my way getting my first alt there as well.’;

Chiefnoun

a person who exercises control over workers;

‘if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman’;

Mainnoun

A large cable or pipe providing utility service to an area or a building, such as a water main or electric main.

Chiefadjective

most important element;

‘the chief aim of living’; ‘the main doors were of solid glass’; ‘the principal rivers of America’; ‘the principal example’; ‘policemen were primary targets’;

Mainnoun

(informal) lang=en

‘I had scampi and chips for my main and a slice of cheesecake for dessert.’;

Chiefnoun

a leader or ruler of a people or clan

‘Chief Banawi’; ‘the chief of the village’;

Mainnoun

The high seas.

Chiefnoun

the head of an organization

‘a union chief’; ‘the chief of police’;

Mainnoun

The mainland.

Chiefnoun

an informal form of address to a man, especially one of superior rank or status

‘it's quite simple, chief’;

Mainnoun

(nautical) lang=en

Chiefnoun

an ordinary consisting of a broad horizontal band across the top of the shield.

Mainnoun

Force, power, strength, violent effort.

Chiefnoun

the upper third of the field.

Mainnoun

A hand or match in a game of dice.

Chiefadjective

most important

‘chief among her concerns is working alone at night’; ‘the chief reason for the spending cuts’;

Mainnoun

The largest throw in a match at dice; in the game of hazard, a number from one to nine called out by a person before the dice are thrown.

Chiefadjective

having or denoting the highest rank

‘the chief economist of a leading bank’;

Mainnoun

A stake played for at dice.

Mainnoun

A sporting contest or match, especially a cockfighting match.

Mainnoun

A banker's shovel for coins.

Mainnoun

A basket for gathering grapes.

Mainnoun

A hand or match at dice.

Mainnoun

A stake played for at dice.

Mainnoun

The largest throw in a match at dice; a throw at dice within given limits, as in the game of hazard.

Mainnoun

A match at cockfighting.

Mainnoun

A main-hamper.

Mainnoun

Strength; force; might; violent effort.

‘There were in this battle of most might and main.’; ‘He 'gan advance,With huge force, and with importable main.’;

Mainnoun

The chief or principal part; the main or most important thing.

‘Resolved to rest upon the title of Lancaster as the main, and to use the other two . . . but as supporters.’;

Mainnoun

The great sea, as distinguished from an arm, bay, etc. ; the high sea; the ocean.

‘With might and main they chased the murderous fox.’;

Mainadjective

Very or extremely strong.

‘That current with main fury ran.’;

Mainadjective

Vast; huge.

Mainadjective

Unqualified; absolute; entire; sheer.

Mainadjective

Principal; chief; first in size, rank, importance, etc.; as, the main reason to go; the main proponent.

‘Our main interest is to be happy as we can.’;

Mainadjective

Important; necessary.

‘That which thou arightBelievest so main to our success, I bring.’; ‘That Maine which by main force Warwick did win.’;

Mainadverb

Very; extremely; as, main heavy.

Mainnoun

any very large body of (salt) water

Mainnoun

a principal pipe in a system that distributes water or gas or electricity or that collects sewage

Mainadjective

most important element;

‘the chief aim of living’; ‘the main doors were of solid glass’; ‘the principal rivers of America’; ‘the principal example’; ‘policemen were primary targets’;

Mainadjective

of a clause; able to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence;

‘the main (or independent) clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb’;

Mainadjective

of force; of the greatest possible intensity;

‘by main strength’;