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:
One North Korean commando, captured during a daring 1968 mission to assassinate the South Korean president in Seoul, recalls the confusion he felt when first encountering Christianity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
Labuschagne, an ex-South African commando, founded Warm Heart Initiative in response to the clashes that followed the translocation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Still, Makasi rose quickly, becoming a commando instructor training elite units.
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
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
One was to try another Gunnerside-style commando raid.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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
It was said that the parties of rebels and commandoes of the Mexican army were hovering along the Rio Grande, ready to swoop like hawks upon unprotected Americans.
From The Mission of Janice Day by Corinne Turner
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
But as it crossed the Channel, commandos swooped.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 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
Sunday's six-hour operation, which saw commandos fast-roping from a helicopter on to the tanker and was supported by the Royal Air Force, was the first of its kind carried out by UK armed forces.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
It was not normal procedure to give commandos this kind of information, but Wilson wanted the men going in with no illusions.
From "Bomb" 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.
