commandeer

[kom-uh n-deer]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR commandeer ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to order or force into active military service.

to seize (private property) for military or other public use: The police officer commandeered a taxi and took off after the getaway car.

to seize arbitrarily.

Origin of commandeer

1880–85; < Afrikaans kommandeer < French commander to command

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for commandeer

confiscate, hijack, activate, expropriate, annex, assume, arrogate, sequestrate, sequester, snatch, preempt, requisition, draft, take, usurp, appropriate, enslave, grab, liberate, conscript

Examples from the Web for commandeer

Contemporary Examples of commandeer

In the mood to commandeer a Boeing 727 and demand half a million dollars in ransom?
When Hijackers Ruled the American Skies
Emma Garman
June 20, 2013
Surely he never intended to commandeer the courthouses of Kabul where we would square off against the Taliban—lawyer to lawyer.
Our Right to Revenge After the Boston Attacks
Thane Rosenbaum
May 6, 2013
They now commandeer well-organized battalions of volunteers who could turn out voters for Obama.
Obama's Uphill Battle in Arizona
Terry Greene Sterling
October 11, 2011

Historical Examples of commandeer

Before she had finished she had had to commandeer the whole of the bed, and was weary and confused.
The Carroll Girls
Mabel Quiller-Couch
Our present troop officer is great on the commandeer, and very popular.
A Yeoman's Letters
P. T. Ross
Badly as boats were needed, Dave had to commandeer two of the smallest.
Dave Darrin After The Mine Layers
H. Irving Hancock
He knew, too, that to commandeer a destroyer for a private errand was inadmissable.
The Secret of the Silver Car
Wyndham Martyn
Why shouldn't he commandeer the machine and make his escape that way?
Commander Lawless V.C.
Rolf Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for commandeer

commandeer

verb (tr)

to seize for public or military use

to seize arbitrarily

Word Origin for commandeer

C19: from Afrikaans kommandeer, from French commander to command

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for commandeer

1881, from Dutch (especially Afrikaans) kommandeeren "to command" (for military service), from French commander (see command (v.)). Related: Commandeered; commandeering.