English
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman and Law French, (modern French avocat général or procureur général), hence the unusual order of adjective following noun, instead of idiomatic English *general attorney. Compare court martial, notary public, secretary general, surgeon general.
Noun
attorney general (plural attorneys general or attorney generals)
- The chief legal advisor to the government, overseeing legal affairs and ensuring that laws are uniformly and justly applied.
- Synonyms: AG, Atty. Gen.
1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 29, column 2:If you do wrongfully ſeize Herford's right,
call in his Letters Patents that he hath
By his Atturneyes generall, to ſue […]
Derived terms
Translations
major government officer
- Arabic: نَائِب عَامّ m (nāʔib ʕāmm)
- Bulgarian: гла́вен прокуро́р m (gláven prokurór)
- Burmese: ရှေ့နေချုပ် (my) (hre.nehkyup)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 司法部長 / 司法部长 (sīfǎ bùzhǎng)
- Czech: generální prokurátor m
- Dutch: procureur-generaal (nl) m or f
- Estonian: õiguskantsler
- Finnish: oikeuskansleri (fi) (chief legal advisor to govt), valtakunnansyyttäjä (fi) (chief prosecutor)
- French: procureur général (fr) m
- Georgian: იუსტიციის მინისტრი (iusṭiciis minisṭri), გენერალური პროკურორი (generaluri ṗroḳurori), გენერალური ატორნეი (generaluri aṭornei)
- German: Generalstaatsanwalt (de) m
- Hausa: atone-janar m
- Hebrew: תובע כללי m, תובעת כללית f
- Hungarian: főállamügyész (hu), igazságügy-miniszter (hu)
- Indonesian: jaksa agung (id)
- Irish: Ard-Aighne m
- Italian: procuratore generale m
- Japanese: 検事総長 (kenji sōchō)
- Malay: peguam negara
- Maori: rōia matua
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: justisminister (no) m
- Nynorsk: justisminister m
- Polish: prokurator generalny m (chief prosecutor)
- Portuguese: Procurador(a) Geral
- Romanian: procuror general m
- Russian: мини́стр юсти́ции m (minístr justícii), генера́льный прокуро́р (ru) m (generálʹnyj prokurór), генпрокуро́р (ru) m (genprokurór)
- Slovak: generálny prokurátor m
- Spanish: fiscal general m or f, procurador general m, procuradora general f
- Swedish: kronjurist c (England and Wales), justitieminister (sv) c (USA)
- Ukrainian: генера́льний прокуро́р m (henerálʹnyj prokurór)
- Welsh: twrnai cyffredinol m
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Further reading