commissary

American  

[kom-uh-ser-ee] / ˈkɒm əˌsɛr i /

noun

• commissaries
  plural

1. a store that sells food and supplies to the personnel or workers in a military post, mining camp, lumber camp, or the like.

2. a dining room or cafeteria, especially one in a motion-picture studio.

3. a person to whom some responsibility or role is delegated by a superior power; a deputy.

4. (in France) a police official, usually just below the police chief in rank.

5. commissar.

---

commissary British  

/ ˈkɒmɪsərɪ, ˌkɒmɪˈsɛərɪəl /

noun

1. a shop supplying food or equipment, as in a military camp

2. army an officer responsible for supplies and food

3. a snack bar or restaurant in a film studio

4. a representative or deputy, esp an official representative of a bishop

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• commissaryship
  noun
• subcommissary
  noun
• commissarial
  adjective
• subcommissarial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• commissaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of commissary

1350–1400; Middle English commissarie (< Anglo-French ) < Medieval Latin commissārius, equivalent to Latin commiss ( us ) (past participle of committere to commit ) + -ārius -ary

Explanation

A commissary is a food and supply store for employees. On military bases, soldiers and their families shop in a commissary. The original commissaries were the military ones, from an earlier meaning of the word, "military official in charge of food supplies and transport." Today, many workplaces have commissaries where employees can buy prepared food, provisions, and sometimes equipment. Some factory laborers, miners, incarcerated people, and office workers shop at commissaries. And since Hollywood movie studios first opened in the early 20th century, they operated cafeterias on their lots, known as commissaries, for their employees.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

commissary commissaries

Men would also scroll YouTube videos, partake in online sports betting and convince women on the outside to date them, sometimes seemingly to get those women to wire money into their commissary accounts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

According to contemporaneous accounts, German prisoners of war in U.S. camps were sometimes offered Cokes at the commissary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Parada Calderon said his family sends him about $100 per month to spend on commissary items, which he spends on packets of crackers, coffee, soups, soap, shampoo, deodorant and chips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

Bardelli published a research article in 2022 about inequality within prison commissary stores.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

The Continentals were paying off in commissary scrip, which would be totally worthless if they lost.

From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

By contrast, logistics is pretty mundane; the big contractors don’t pine for contracts to build oiler ships, cranes, or commissaries.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Public grocery stores already exist in the form of commissaries on military bases.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025

In Hollywood, studios tended to lay claim to nearby restaurants almost as extensions of their own commissaries, with cocktail privileges.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2025

Prisons run by state and federal governments contract out many services to private firms — like health care, transport, meals, telecommunication, commissaries and uniforms.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2023

They stated, furthermore, that they were not being paid in real money but in scrip, which was good only to buy Virginia ham in the company commissaries.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez