anarchy
Without a leader; absence of government and law.
After the revolution, there was complete anarchy in the land.
archaic
Belonging to ancient times; old-fashioned.
The word "thou" is an archaic form of "you".
archangel
Chief or main angel.
Gabriel was named as one of the seven archangels.
archbishop
The chief bishop of a diocese.
Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered when he opposed King Henry II.
archdiocese
The district presided over by an archbishop.
The archdiocese of New York is proud of Mother Seton, a New Yorker who was declared to be the first American saint.
archduke
A chief duke.
The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914, precipitated World War I.
archenemy
Chief, or main, enemy.
Disease is the archenemy of mankind.
archeology, archeologist
1. Archeology is the study of ancient civilizations.
2. An archeologist is a scientist who excavates ancient cities.
Archeology is the study of the human past through the recovery and analysis of material remains. As people search for their origins, archeology provides insights into our shared heritage.
archetype
Chief or primary model.
Satan is the archetype of evil.
archipelago
1. A sea with a cluster of islands.
2. A group of islands, or an area of sea containing a group of islands.
The islands of an archipelago are usually volcanic in origin, and they sometimes represent the tops of peaks in areas around continental margins flooded by the sea.
3. Etymology: from Italian
arcipelago, "the Aegean Sea" (13th century), from Greek
arkhipelagos, from
arkhi-, "chief" +
pelagos, "sea".
The Aegean Sea being full of island chains, the meaning was extended in Italian to "any sea studded with islands".
The Aegean archipelago lies between Greece and Turkey.
architect
The chief builder or designer.
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City was designed by the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
hierarchy
A group arranged in order of rank or grade.
The President is at the head of the U.S. governmental hierarchy.
matriarch
The mother or woman who rules a family or tribe.
The seventy-year-old grandmother was the matriarch of the family.
monarch
The sole ruler of a state or country.
Louis XVI, the monarch of France, was beheaded during the French Revolution.
patriarch
The father or ruler of a family or group.
Abraham was a Biblical patriarch who is said to be the founder of the Hebrew tribe.
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