commandment
Americannoun
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a command or mandate.
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(sometimes initial capital letter) any of the Ten Commandments.
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the act or power of commanding. commanding.
noun
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a divine command, esp one of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament
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literary any command
Etymology
Origin of commandment
1200–50; Middle English com ( m ) and ( e ) ment < Anglo-French, Old French com ( m ) andement. See command, -ment
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.
Nor is there any commandment to spread the religion over the face of the earth.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 11, 2025
“We have a commandment to conquer it,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2024
Do we still, even in the faintest way, hear that Surrealist commandment: “Transform the world, change life”?
From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2024
The environmental commandment that asserts that killing trees is wrong has become a harmful truism that disguises the tree’s photosynthetic magic.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 7, 2023
It’s the eleventh commandment, you know: “Thou shalt not track dirt.”
From "P.S. I Miss You" by Jen Petro-Roy
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.
