to direct with specific authority or prerogative; order.
The captain commanded his men to attack.
to require authoritatively; demand.
She commanded silence.
to have or exercise authority or control over; be master of; have at one's bidding or disposal.
The Pharaoh commanded 10,000 slaves.
to deserve and receive (respect, sympathy, attention, etc.).
He commands much respect for his attitude.
to dominate by reason of location; overlook.
The hill commands the sea.
to have authority over and responsibility for (a military or naval unit or installation); be in charge of.
to issue an order or orders.
to be in charge; have authority.
to occupy a dominating position; look down upon or over a body of water, region, etc.
the act of commanding or ordering.
an order given by one in authority.
The colonel gave the command to attack.
Military.
an order in prescribed words, usually given in a loud voice to troops at close-order drill.
The command was “Right shoulder arms!”
the order of execution or the second part of any two-part close-order drill command, as face in Right face!
Command, a principal component of the U.S. Air Force.
Strategic Air Command.
a body of troops or a station, ship, etc., under a commander.
the possession or exercise of controlling authority.
a lieutenant in command of a platoon.
He has a command of French, Russian, and German.
British. a royal order.
power of dominating a region by reason of location; extent of view or outlook.
the command of the valley from the hill.
Computers.
an electric impulse, signal, or set of signals for initiating an operation in a computer.
a character, symbol, or item of information for instructing a computer to perform a specific task.
a single instruction.
of, relating to, or for use in the exercise of command: command post.
a command car;
command post.
of or relating to a commander.
a command decision.
ordered by a sovereign, as if by a sovereign, or by the exigencies of a situation.
a command performance.
(when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to order, require, or compel
to have or be in control or authority over (a person, situation, etc)
(tr) to have knowledge or use of
he commands the language
(tr) to receive as due or because of merit
his nature commands respect
to dominate (a view, etc) as from a height
an order; mandate
the act of commanding
the power or right to command
the exercise of the power to command
ability or knowledge; control
a command of French
military the jurisdiction of a commander
a military unit or units commanding a specific area or function, as in the RAF
an invitation from the monarch
( as modifier )
a command performance
computing a word or phrase that can be selected from a menu or typed after a prompt in order to carry out an action
First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English coma(u)nden, from Anglo-French com(m)a(u)nder, Old French comander, from Medieval Latin commandāre, equivalent to Latin com- com- + mandāre “to entrust, order” ( cf. commend); (noun) late Middle English comma(u)nde, from Anglo-French, Old French; the noun is derivative of the verb
A command is an order that you have to follow, as long as the person who gives it has authority over you. You don't have to comply with your friend's command that you give him all your money. Command, which can be a noun or a verb, combines the Latin prefix com-, meaning "with," and mandāre, "to charge, enjoin," so to give someone a command is to say something with the authority that charges him to follow it. Your mother might command you to clean your room. Command can also mean a position of power, like having command of a battleship, or possession of a skill, like having a great command of video games.
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Special Operations Command, and a $287 million contract for the U.S.
From Barron's • Jun. 30, 2026
Army Europe and Africa, and commander of NATO’s Allied Land Command — will step down in July after only 18 months in the job.
From Salon • Jun. 27, 2026
Command and control nodes could be moved underground.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 26, 2026
A Space Force spokesperson told MarketWatch that Space Systems Command could neither confirm nor deny the vendor identities due to national-security interests.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 24, 2026
The soldier escorted Jake and Kojo to the National Military Command Center, what some called the War Room.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
