commando
Americannoun
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commandos,
plural
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commandoes
plural
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(inWorld War II )
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any of the specially trained Allied military units used for surprise, hit-and-run raids against Axis forces.
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a member of any of these units.
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any military unit organized for operations similar to those of the commandos of World War II.
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a member of a military assault unit or team trained to operate quickly and aggressively in especially urgent, threatening situations, as against terrorists holding hostages.
idioms
noun
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an amphibious military unit trained for raiding
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a member of such a unit
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the basic unit of the Royal Marine Corps
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(originally) an armed force raised by Boers during the Boer War
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(modifier) denoting or relating to a commando or force of commandos
a commando raid
a commando unit
adverb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of commando
First recorded in 1785–95; from Afrikaans kommando “raid, raiding party, a unit of militia,” from Portuguese commando “unit commanded,” noun derivative of commandar “to command ”
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.
See Examples For:
Baracus, an ex-Army commando fugitive, and as a professional wrestler with the World Wrestling Federation through the late 1980s, Mr. T is also known for his charitable contributions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Mr. Talty’s representative commando, Helias Doundoulakis, was more Bond-like in his approach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
"We later understood that there was a commando operation underway."
From Barron's ● Mar. 7, 2026
Now, nearly four decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s commando Dutch Schaefer survived his encounter with a Yautja – long before anyone knew that’s what they were called – “Predator: Badlands” makes one of them the hero.
From Salon ● Nov. 12, 2025
My mom is like a one-woman commando unit.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
In a world run by women, these daughter-retrieving commandoes would be at home.
From Slate ● Mar. 9, 2022
Dozens of U.S. commandoes landed outside Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi’s Syrian hideout and warned people in nearby homes to stay inside, U.S. officials said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
He and several other residents, and a security official, said Afghan commandoes had launched an operation to clear the insurgents from the city.
From Reuters ● Aug. 9, 2021
"Six-hundred men - military; they had army, commandoes, Royal Air Force, bloodhounds, Anson planes - and they still failed to find the twins."
From BBC ● May 25, 2018
Meanwhile, General Joubert's force received large reinforcements of Free State burghers under the command of Lucas Meyer, and additional commandoes from the Middleburgh and Leydenburg districts under Schalkburger were expected.
From South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 2 (of 6) From the Commencement of the War to the Battle of Colenso, 15th Dec. 1899 by Louis Creswicke
Video taken after Jando’s arrest shows him being escorted in handcuffs by a squad of Mexican commandos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
"We got reinforcements from the armed forces and the Special Task Force commandos to restore order and send the inmates back to their cells," Medawatte told reporters outside the prison.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
The line is like Nolan nudging his audience to say, check this out: a human pyramid of Greek commandos packed into a dark hollow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
“Whereas before, I don’t know if I’m going to get hit with some balcony assessment that these condo commandos are hiding.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
I took in the spectacle: thousands and thousands of pounds of metal, a squad of commandos, bulletproof everything.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
