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.
In a recent demonstration posted online, a Pentagon official described how Maven "magically" turns an observed threat into a targeting workflow, weighing available assets and presenting a commander with options.
From Barron's • Apr. 5, 2026
"Morale is high on board," commander Reid Wiseman told Houston's Mission Control center as the space crew's work day began.
From Barron's • Apr. 4, 2026
The commander had initially found it difficult to take pictures of our planet from the spacecraft, saying taking photos at such a distance made it hard to adjust exposure settings.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026
He was deployed to Afghanistan as a company commander while I was a squad leader in Iraq.
From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026
But the young women of the 587th and their new commander were going to surprise each other.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
