grand poobah
1
9.9
- noun
- /ɡrænd ˈpuːbɑː/
- Slang
- After years of hard work, he finally became the grand poobah of the local theater community.
Examples
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When I accepted... the post of president, grand poobah of Target, realizing that I had brought... meaningfulness, peace, and happiness... into the lives of thousands of people.
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Because above her is Cyrus Miles... studio chairman and grand poobah.
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Clement is the grand poobah of Cajun Heat, an expanding company that now features products that include a spicy rub, hot sauce, mustard, wing sauce, and more.
Blog text (31) -
In the meeting, she was referred to as the grand poobah of marketing, having led the campaign to great success.
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Everyone in the office jokes that he considers himself the grand poobah of project management.
Synonyms
54
6.7
A person who is very important and powerful in a group
32
5.1
An important person with power in a company or field
30
6.3
A rich, powerful person who seems greedy and has too much power
25
3.8
An important person who is treated as successful or powerful
17
6.9
An important person with power in a company or group
16
8.1
An important person who makes key decisions for a group
14
2.5
A person with great power or status who gets special treatment
8
7.5
A very large, strong, or important person like a leader
8
9.5
A very important person in a group or organization, often the most powerful
3
7.4
A very large and powerful person or company that beats others easily
1
9.9
A person who thinks they are more important than other people
1
6.8
A person who is too proud and thinks they know more than others
1
8.9
A person who talks as if they are always right
1
9.9
A person who acts too proud and tries to seem important
1
9.9
A person who acts very important and looks down on others
1
8.9
An important person in charge who people call jokingly
1
9.9
A person who acts like a ruler and expects others to obey
1
9.9
A person who has an important job that people mention as a joke
A person who acts very important but is not
A person who is the most important leader in a field
A person who has power to rule a city or region
A person in charge whom people jokingly call very important
Antonyms
How Important
- Informal
26
4.6
- Slang
1
9.9
- Slang
10
5.3
∞
1.0
332
2.8
- Offensive
7
6.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
grand + poobah
The element 'poobah' is not a transparent lexical item (it's a borrowed/humorous title derived from a literary character) and knowing 'grand' alone does not let a learner infer the sense 'person of exaggerated importance.' The meaning is idiomatic and culturally specific rather than compositionally built from its parts, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not reliably derive the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The name grand poobah comes from a funny character called Pooh-Bah in an old play, who had many jobs and acted very important. So today grand poobah means 'an important person' and is often used as a joke for someone who thinks they are too important.