Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

czar

American  
[zahr, tsahr] / zɑr, tsɑr /
Or tsar,

noun

  1. an emperor or king.

  2. (often initial capital letter) the former emperor of Russia.

  3. an autocratic ruler or leader.

  4. any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field.

    a czar of industry.
czar British  
/ zɑː /

noun

  1. a variant spelling (esp US) of tsar

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
czar Cultural  

  1. The title of rulers or emperors of Russia from the sixteenth century until the Russian Revolution. The czars ruled as absolute monarchs (see absolute monarchy) until the early twentieth century, when a parliament was established in Russia. Czar can also be spelled tsar.

Discover More

The term czar is sometimes applied generally to a powerful leader or to a government administrator with wide-ranging powers.

Other Word Forms

  • czardom noun

Etymology

Origin of czar

First recorded in 1545–55; from Russian tsar', Old Russian tsĭsarĭ “emperor, king” (akin to Old Church Slavonic tsěsarĭ ), from Gothic kaisar “emperor” (from Greek or Latin ); Greek kaîsar, from Latin Caesar; Caesar ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Bolivia and the United States have resumed joint anti-drug trafficking investigations, the South American country's drugs czar Ernesto Justiniano told AFP on Wednesday.

From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026

Tom Homan, then a top ICE official and now Trump’s border czar, introduced the directive to field offices around the country.

From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026

Key Democratic and Republican senators huddled with DHS border czar Tom Homan on Thursday, but the meeting didn’t produce a deal.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026

“In the next week, we are going to deploy those officers here on detail back to their home stations or other areas of the country where they are needed,” Border czar Tom Homan said Thursday.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

She persuaded the czar to let her fly for Russia as a military reconnaissance pilot, scouting out the best direction for soldiers on the ground to fire their guns.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.