Chieftain
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A leader of a clan or tribe. A leader of a group, e.g. a robbers' chieftain. (capitalized) The name of a British military tank.
Captain
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To act as captainTo exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A chief or leader.An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major.A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore.A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to an Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel.The person lawfully in command of a vessel.The person lawfully in command of an airliner.One of the athletes on a sports team who designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official.The leader of a group of workers.A maƮtre d'.An honorific title given to a prominent person. See colonel.
Example sentence: A director is the captain of the ship; he gets the vision of the film much before anyone else can. While I want to experiment with characters, I know a good director means I am in safe hands.