lieutenant colonel

American

noun

U.S. Military.

a commissioned officer ranking next below a colonel and next above a major.

lieutenant colonel British

noun

an officer holding commissioned rank immediately junior to a colonel in certain armies, air forces, and marine corps

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of lieutenant colonel

First recorded in 1590–1600

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:

lieutenant colonel

Army lieutenant colonel and Green Beret who served in Vietnam.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026

Guest: Adam Kinzinger, former Republican Congressman for Illinois’s 11th and 16th districts, Jan 6 Committee member, former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard.

From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2026

Known as the Crab, because he was born with an extra finger, the hulking Rodriguez Castro is a lieutenant colonel in the island’s interior ministry in charge of his grandfather’s security detail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

"Defence-related technologies have replaced cybersecurity as the most in-demand high-tech sector," the reserve lieutenant colonel explained.

From Barron's ● Feb. 21, 2026

He had been a lieutenant colonel in public relations in Baltimore.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023