cadet

¹ American  

[kuh-det] / kəˈdɛt /

noun

1. a student in a national service academy or private military school or on a training ship.

2. a student in training for service as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Coast Guard.

3. a trainee in a business or profession.

4. a younger son or brother.

5. the youngest son.

6. (formerly) a gentleman, usually a younger son, who entered the army to prepare for a subsequent commission.

7. Also called cadet blue.  a grayish to strong blue color.

8. Also called cadet gray.  a bluish-gray to purplish-blue color.

9. Slang. a pimp.

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Cadet ² American  

[kuh-det] / kəˈdɛt /

noun

Russian History.

1. a member of the former Constitutional Democratic Party.

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cadet British  

/ kəˈdɛt /

noun

1. a young person undergoing preliminary training, usually before full entry to the uniformed services, police, etc, esp for officer status

2. a school pupil receiving elementary military training in a school corps

3. (in England and in France before 1789) a gentleman, usually a younger son, who entered the army to prepare for a commission

4. a younger son or brother

5. the family or family branch of a younger son

6. (in New Zealand) a person learning sheep farming on a sheep station

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Other Word Forms

• cadetship noun

Etymology

Origin of cadet¹

1600–10; < French < Gascon capdet chief, captain (referring to the younger sons of noble families); compare Old Provençal capdel headman < Latin capitellum literally, small head; capital ²

Origin of Cadet¹

< Russian kadét, equivalent to ka + de (the letter names of k, d, representing konstitutsiónnyĭ demokrát Constitutional Democrat) + -t from kadét (now obsolete) cadet

Example Sentences

Carley told police that the naval uniform was issued to him legitimately when he was in the cadets but he had rear admiral rings added by a tailor and he had bought medals online.

From BBC

DS Hunt's son, Adrian Hunt - who was an 18-year-old police cadet at the time of his father's murder - called the matter "bureaucracy gone mad".

From BBC

G was always a little bit of a space cadet.

From Literature

Merchant Marine Academy still teaches cadets the story of Mary Ann Patten taking a clipper ship around Cape Horn.

From The Wall Street Journal

That was in 1992, and we actually took the cadets on a field trip to Los Alamos where the first nuclear weapon had largely been developed.

From Salon

Related Words

• student
• youth