commissariat

American  

[kom-uh-sair-ee-uht] / ˌkɒm əˈsɛər i ət /

noun

1. any of the major governmental divisions of the U.S.S.R.: called ministry since 1946.

2. the organized method or manner by which food, equipment, transport, etc., is delivered to armies.

3. the department of an army charged with supplying provisions.

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commissariat British  

/ ˌkɒmɪˈsɛərɪət /

noun

1. Now called: ministry.  (in the former Soviet Union) a government department before 1946

2. 1. a military department in charge of food supplies, equipment, etc

   2. the offices of such a department

3. food supplies

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Etymology

Origin of commissariat

1600–10; < New Latin commissāriātus, equivalent to Medieval Latin commissāri ( us ) commissary + -ātus -ate ³; commissariat ( def. 1 ) < Russian komissariát ≪ New Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Serbia’s Commissariat for Refugees and Migration reports that there are 4,276 migrants residing in reception centers in Serbia and another 1,000 sleeping rough.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 22, 2022

Intrigued, she traveled to the city, and uncovered in public archives the sale catalogs, the auction minutes, the identity of the seller and documents proving the involvement of the Vichy government’s Commissariat for Jewish Questions.

From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2021

Josef Stalin sought to build a skyscraper on the site, much like the “Seven Sisters” erected across the city, intended to house the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Machinery.

From Economist • Oct. 25, 2017

The Commissariat of Enlightenment by Sheila Fitzpatrick A riveting account of the institution that implemented the cultural and educational policies of the revolution after 1917.

From The Guardian • Apr. 12, 2017

We left Graham’s Town for Fort Peddie, on the 22nd of March, 1843, the waggon allowed by the Commissariat being only half the size of the one we obtained at Port Elizabeth.

From The Cape and the Kaffirs A Diary of Five Years' Residence in Kaffirland by Ward, Harriet