there is a new sheriff in town
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A new person is in charge and things will change
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Một người mới đang掌 quyền và mọi thứ sẽ thay đổi
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a new law enforcement officer has arrived
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company's new CEO announced major reforms, clearly there is a new sheriff in town
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “there is a new sheriff in town” mean?
A new person is in charge and things will change Literally: a new law enforcement officer has arrived
Is “there is a new sheriff in town” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.