prime minister

Calque of French premier ministre.

• IPA^(key): /ˌpɹaɪm ˈmɪnɪstə(ɹ)/

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prime minister (plural prime ministers)

Sir Winston Churchill, a prime minister of the United Kingdom

1. The chief member of the cabinet and head of the government, especially in a parliamentary democracy; often the leader of the majority party.

   This is a list of all prime ministers since Churchill.

   Yesterday we had a visit from the Prime Minister / prime minister. (See usage notes below.)

   Hypernyms: see Thesaurus:government minister

• When referring to a particular prime minister, prime minister is capitalised according to some style guides, but it should only be capitalised when used before a person's name according to others:

  A The Prime Minister issued a statement today.

  B The prime minister issued a statement today.

  B Prime Minister Johnson issued a statement today.

• When referring to a prime minister by title and name together, British usage is, e.g., “the Prime Minister, Tony Blair” or “Tony Blair, the Prime Minister”, while North American usage is “Prime Minister Tony Blair”.

• PM (initialism)
• premier

• deputy prime minister
• prime ministerial
• prime ministership

• premiership

• head of government