presiding

adjective

as in chief
highest in rank or authority a senator who is the presiding member of the armed services committee

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for presiding
  1. chief
  2. commanding
  3. supreme
  4. foremost
  5. leading
  6. senior
  7. top
  8. principal
Adjective
  • An area attorney and former chief public defender who was arrested earlier this year on multiple felony drug charges after a raid on his residence was arrested again early Monday on drug and gun charges following a traffic stop.
    — Steven Mross, Arkansas Online, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The festival’s advisory group includes director Dan Löwenstein, founder of House of Create, vertical drama critic and consultant Jen Cooper of Vertical Drama Love, and Christine Hartland, co-founder and chief operating officer of My Smash Media.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of chief
Adjective
  • Wembanyama, for his part, is eager to become a more commanding voice on the defensive end.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Kirkwood had a commanding lead before Palou's spin caused a caution.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of commanding
Adjective
  • Lack of preparation Eight weeks after the UAE withdrawal, the US and Israel launched a war on Iran, killing supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
    — Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 10 Oct. 2026
  • Winston cigarettes and Davidoff cigars serve to sell an image of supreme, untouchable confidence.
    — Michael Douglas, Deadline, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of supreme
Adjective
  • One man who always has a lot to say is Josh Pate, the college football commentator who started from humble beginnings and is now one of the foremost voices in the sport.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 9 Oct. 2026
  • If aesthetics is the foremost priority, Lulu and Georgia offers office furniture that would look more at home in an interior design studio than a corporate high-rise.
    — Kate McGregor, Architectural Digest, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of foremost
Adjective
  • Val Kilmer was a brilliant character actor who looked like an absolutely gorgeous, dynamic leading man; to me, that is Glen.
    — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
  • This is especially important — breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American women.
    — Helen Carefoot, Flow Space, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of leading
Adjective
  • The agency, which reps for PR the likes of Danny Dyer, Lolly Adefope and Shazad Latif along with BAFTA and numerous production companies, has a new senior leader team led by founder and CEO Will Wood.
    — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The executive, who was worked alongside three of Chanel’s four official creative directors, is the last of a generation of senior executives to remain in place, following the arrival in 2021 of Leena Nair as global chief executive officer of Chanel.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of senior
Adjective
  • The top 10 individual donors to American Priorities, cutting six-figure checks, are all Muslim.
    — Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 14 Oct. 2026
  • The top three shoes were the Hermès Oran sandals, followed by the Gucci Ace sneakers and the Louis Vuitton Star Trail Ankle Boots.
    — Samantha Conti, Footwear News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of top
Adjective
  • He is seen as the PM’s principal rival, and could replace him.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The Oniks and Kalibr missile families are among the principal weapons associated with Russia’s Yasen and Yasen-M-class submarines.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of principal
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

presides (over)
presiding
presiding (over)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Presiding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/presiding. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All