admiral

[ ad-mer-uhl ]

noun

1. the commander in chief of a fleet.
2. a naval officer of the highest rank.
3. a naval officer of a high rank: the grades in the U.S. Navy are fleet admiral, admiral, vice-admiral, and rear admiral.
4. Obsolete. the flagship of an admiral.
5. British. a master who directs a fishing fleet.
6. any of several often brightly colored butterflies of the family Nymphalidae, as Vanessa atalanta red admiral.

admiral

/ ˈædmərəl /

noun

1. the supreme commander of a fleet or navy
2. Also calledadmiral of the fleetfleet admiral a naval officer of the highest rank, equivalent to general of the army or field marshal
3. See vice admiral, rear admiral
   a senior naval officer entitled to fly his own flag See also rear admiral vice admiral
4. the master of a fishing fleet
5. any of various nymphalid butterflies, esp the red admiral or white admiral

Derived Forms

• ˈadmiralˌship, noun

Other Words From

• admi·ral·ship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of admiral¹

1175–1225; Middle English, variant of amiral < Old French < Arabic amīr al commander of the; -d- < Medieval Latin admīrābilis mundī for Arabic amīr al-mu'minīn commander of the faithful; or with replacement of a- ⁵ by ad-, as in administer

Word History and Origins

Origin of admiral¹

C13: amyral, from Old French amiral emir, and from Medieval Latin admīrālis (the spelling with d probably influenced by admīrābilis admirable); both from Arabic amīr emir, commander, esp in the phrase amīr-al commander of, as in amīr-al-bahr commander of the sea

Example Sentences

And then I said, ‘Well, chief, when the admiral comes aboard, the first mate has to pipe him in.’

From The Daily Beast

The Admiral told every man, “I just spoke with the President and he plans to thank each of you personally.”

From The Daily Beast

He used language to make his host, the Navy Admiral who was the country's top military officer, blush.

From The Daily Beast

He survived to become an admiral known as the Father of Carrier Aviation.

From The Daily Beast

As a result, Russia needed naval commanders and Jones was given the rank of rear admiral and sent to fight the Turks.

From The Daily Beast

The Americans demanded the surrender of the Arsenal, the Admiral, and the surviving crews of the destroyed fleet.

From Project Gutenberg

A crucial question, very much affected by what the Admiral told me last night.

From Project Gutenberg

Admiral Byng was afterwards shot in England, on an unjust charge of cowardice in this affair.

From Project Gutenberg

In the action off Camperdown, Admiral de Winter asked one of his lieutenants for a quid of tobacco.

From Project Gutenberg

The Admiral came aboard and between us we tried to size up the new situation and to readjust ourselves thereto.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• board
• bureau
• cabinet
• committee
• department
• executive
• legislature
• management
• ministry
• presidency