# grand poobah

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/grand-poobah
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A person who is important or high-ranking.

## Examples

- He acts like the grand poobah of the office.
- You need permission from the grand poobah before you change the schedule.
- She thinks she is the grand poobah of the neighborhood watch group.
- The local grand poobah decided to close the park for the entire weekend without asking anyone.
- The grand poobah of the tech department finally arrived to fix the server after we waited for three hours.
- Everyone in the club stays quiet when the grand poobah stands up to give his weekly speech.
- Despite his lack of actual authority, he carried himself with the self-importance of a grand poobah during the board meeting.

## Origin

From the character Pooh-Bah in the 1885 Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado. In the libretto, the character is a personage of considerable self-importance who holds nearly every high office of state simultaneously, a convenience that allowed the writers to satirise the accumulation of titles. The name entered the general lexicon as a term for a person of similar standing or pretension.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.