as in heavyweight
one of high position or importance within a group
a big kahuna at a Hollywood talent agency, he's got the fancy car to prove it
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Recent Examples of kahuna
The big kahuna, Photoshop itself, costs a minimum of $9.99 per month, but that subscription also includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and 20GB of cloud storage.
—
PCMAG, 10 May 2024
Today may not be your actual filing deadline: Yes, April 15 is the big kahuna of tax-filing deadlines for most people.
—Jeanne Sahadi, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
The ISM Manufacturing Index kicks things off today with plenty of more data over the coming days, anchored by the big kahuna, Friday’s employment situation report for July.
—Jj Kinahan, Forbes, 1 Aug. 2022
As an inside joke, Keōua’s kahuna, whose tongue Ka’iana rips out of his mouth in front of Keōua during the hectic battle, is played by Kahoʻokahi Kanuha, Momoa’s ʻŌlelo Hawai’i coach.
—Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2019
See All Example Sentences for kahuna
Recent Examples of Synonyms for kahuna
Noun
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Zhao's feature also counts Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes as producers.—
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Banks, transportation stocks, hotels and small-caps are cooking, helping to offset the cooling-off in several of the tech heavyweights that had large1ly led the S & P’s three-year, 80% advance.—
Noun
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The Celtics pounded the paint with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, a pair of bruising bigs who also can force the issue from 3-point range despite their lumbering dispositions.—
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Perhaps names like Zach Ehrhard or James Tibbs III could see time in the bigs.—
Noun
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The Dark Ages gave us an extremely metal prequel that — while a bit too lore and cutscene-heavy — presented more surprising tricks and gameplay refreshes to keep the long-running FPS series alive and kicking butt.—
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However, a combination of tariffs, inflation and narrow GDP growth kept the tech-heavy S & P 500 in the lead over the Russell 2000.—
Noun
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For centuries, the kings and queens of the Netherlands have been buried in the church, beginning with William of Orange in 1584.—
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But monks there complained that the slain king was walking around at night, frightening them with strange sounds.—
Noun
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Cate Blanchett is the queen of a relaxed, textured bob.—
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In some species, ants restructure their nests to slow the transmission of a lethal fungus and in others, ant queens eat infected brood to prevent the spread of disease and recover nutrients.—
Noun
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One slide notes that homosexuality is found in more than 1,500 species of animals, and includes photos of fish, bugs and lions.—
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Based on the best-selling novel by John Grisham, The Rainmaker follows Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan), who is fresh out of law school, goes head-to-head with courtroom lion Leo Drummond (John Slattery) as well as his law school girlfriend, Sarah (Madison Iseman).—
Noun
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Singer island is so named after Paris Singer, a descendant of the Singer Sewing Machine magnate, who began developing the Palm Beach coastline into a national luxury destination in the 1920s.—
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O’Leary isn’t the only nonprofessional in Marty Supreme’s sprawling cast, which includes rapper Tyler the Creator, real-life table-tennis champion Koto Kawaguchi, filmmaker Abel Ferrara, and supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis.—
Cite this Entry
“Kahuna.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/kahuna. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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