commander
Americannoun
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a person who commands.
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a person who exercises authority; chief officer; leader.
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the commissioned officer in command of a military unit.
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U.S. Navy. an officer ranking below a captain and above a lieutenant commander.
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a police officer in charge of a precinct or other unit.
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the chief officer of a commandery in the medieval orders of Knights Hospitalers, Knights Templars, and others.
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a member of one of the higher classes or ranks in certain modern fraternal orders, as in the Knights Templars.
noun
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an officer in command of a military formation or operation
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a naval commissioned rank junior to captain but senior to lieutenant commander
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the second in command of larger British warships
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someone who holds authority
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a high-ranking member of some knightly or fraternal orders
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an officer responsible for a district of the Metropolitan Police in London
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history the administrator of a house, priory, or landed estate of a medieval religious order
Other Word Forms
- commandership noun
- subcommander noun
- subcommandership noun
- undercommander noun
Etymology
Origin of commander
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French comandere, equivalent to comand ( er ) to command + -ere < Latin -ātōr- -ator
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That was before Hadfield had served as commander of the International Space Station.
From BBC • Apr. 2, 2026
He was deployed to Afghanistan as a company commander while I was a squad leader in Iraq.
From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026
Although his experience in the military informed the types of roles Tolkan would play — Army office, Air Force commander, police lieutenant, attorney — his work as an actor was his passion.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Centcom former commander General Joseph Votel told The War Zone website this month it would not take that many soldiers to seize Kharg.
From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026
At the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, the SAC commander marched down a concrete ramp into the earth.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
