adjutant
Americannoun
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Military. a staff officer who assists the commanding officer in issuing orders.
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British Military. an executive officer.
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an assistant.
noun
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Abbreviation: adjt. adj. an officer who acts as administrative assistant to a superior officer
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short for adjutant bird
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of adjutant
1590–1600; < Latin adjūtant- (stem of adjūtāns, present participle of adjūtāre to help, assist), equivalent to ad- ad- + jū- (variant stem of juvāre to help) + -t- frequentative suffix + -ant- -ant
Explanation
A general's assistant is his adjutant. The word means someone who serves as a helper to a higher-ranking military officer. The root of adjutant, is the Latin juvare, "to help, support." It sounds a little like juvenile, doesn't it? So think of an adjutant as a young staff officer helping out an older commanding one. The word adjutant can also be used to describe a loyal deputy or follower. If you are the kind of kid who stays at the side of your favorite teacher and does whatever the teacher ask you to, you might be described as that teacher's adjutant.
Vocabulary lists containing adjutant
My Brother Sam is Dead
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The Killer Angels
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A Farewell To Arms
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Gen. Timothy P. Williams, the Adjutant General of Virginia whose command includes Fort Pickett, the choice of the new name made it an easy one for the military to accept.
From Washington Post • Mar. 21, 2023
“Adverse action for officers is retained at the Assistant Adjutant General level and could range from informal counseling to initiation of separation from the military.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 14, 2023
But it was a visit in 1984, when he was Adjutant at Royal Marines Poole, that he remembers most vividly.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2022
"In that capacity, on October 4, 2021, I ordered the Adjutant General of Texas to comply with my Executive Order GA-39."
From Fox News • Dec. 16, 2021
The Adjutant commanded those of us who labored provisioning to pull back to Cambridge.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
