commissary
Americannoun
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a store that sells food and supplies to the personnel or workers in a military post, mining camp, lumber camp, or the like.
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a dining room or cafeteria, especially one in a motion-picture studio.
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a person to whom some responsibility or role is delegated by a superior power; a deputy.
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(in France) a police official, usually just below the police chief in rank.
noun
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a shop supplying food or equipment, as in a military camp
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army an officer responsible for supplies and food
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a snack bar or restaurant in a film studio
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a representative or deputy, esp an official representative of a bishop
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing commissary
Punching Bag
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The Red Car to Hollywood
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In the Country We Love
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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.
After I hit the gym, I usually grab a coffee at Coffee Commissary in Burbank.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2023
Dunbar, a Western North Carolina native who also went to A-B Tech, was once the co-owner of The Asheville Commissary, a restaurant he ran with Farm to Fender chef Jeremiah Jackson.
From Washington Times • Oct. 11, 2020
At Commissary, a popular restaurant with outdoor seating on P Street NW, a sign on the door indicated the business was still closed temporarily.
From Washington Post • May 29, 2020
Potted plants cascade and sway from the ceiling — an ode to Commissary, the restaurant he ran in a poolside greenhouse at the Line Hotel.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 28, 2018
On April 2 M. Podvoisky, Assistant Commissary of War, stated that Russia would form an army of 1,500,000 men, and that the Red Army of Volunteers was steadily growing.
From Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times, May 1918 Vol. VIII, Part I, No. 2 by Various
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.
