officer
Americannoun
-
officers
plural
-
a person who holds a position of rank or authority in the army, navy, air force, or any similar organization, especially one who holds a commission.
-
a member of a police department or a constable.
-
a person licensed to take full or partial responsibility for the operation of a merchant ship or other large civilian ship; a master or mate.
-
a person appointed or elected to some position of responsibility or authority in the government, a corporation, a society, etc.
-
(in some honorary orders) a member of any rank except the lowest.
-
Obsolete. an agent.
verb (used with object)
-
officers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
officered,
past participle, past
-
officering
present participle
-
to furnish with officers.
-
to command or direct as an officer does.
-
to direct, conduct, or manage.
noun
-
a person in the armed services who holds a position of responsibility, authority, and duty, esp one who holds a commission
-
See police officer
-
(on a non-naval ship) any person including the captain and mate, who holds a position of authority and responsibility
radio officer
engineer officer
-
a person appointed or elected to a position of responsibility or authority in a government, society, etc
-
a government official
a customs officer
-
(in the Order of the British Empire) a member of the grade below commander
verb
-
to furnish with officers
-
to act as an officer over (some section, group, organization, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
officerhoodnoun
-
officershipnoun
-
subofficernoun
-
underofficernoun
-
officerialadjective
-
officerlessadjective
-
unofficeredadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
officersimple
-
officerssimple
-
have officeredperfect
-
has officeredperfect
-
am officeringprogressive
-
are officeringprogressive
-
is officeringprogressive
-
have been officeringperfect progressive
-
has been officeringperfect progressive
Past
-
officeredsimple
-
had officeredperfect
-
was officeringprogressive
-
were officeringprogressive
-
had been officeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of officer
1275–1325; Middle English < Anglo-French; Middle French officier < Medieval Latin officiārius, equivalent to Latin offici ( um ) office + -ārius -ary; see -er 2, -ier 2
Explanation
An officer is someone who works for a police force or has a high position in the military. Police officers in some towns and cities patrol on bikes, or occasionally even on horseback. You might see police officers patrolling in your neighborhood, or guarding a bank, or inspecting bags in a train station. Military officers hold a high rank, and they issue commands to lower-ranking service members, and an officer is also the commander of a military ship. Another kind of officer is simply "a person who holds an office," which can mean an elected position or a senior job at a company, like a "chief executive officer," or CEO.
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:
“It took a very long time to recognize that cost mattered,” says Rodney Comegys, Vanguard Capital Management’s chief investment officer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Cody Carbone is chief executive officer of the Digital Chamber, a blockchain and digital-asset trade association.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
The latest meeting was called following a report by the council's top legal officer, Alex Bougatef, who said it was his legal duty to declare the local authority is breaking the law.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Steinberg, an executive member of NexusHealth at McMaster and chief scientific officer, shareholder and co-founder of Espervita Therapeutics, recently co-authored preclinical research describing a promising drug candidate for advanced liver disease.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026
The other officer nodded in response, busy examining his fingernails, but I couldn’t help but flush at the compliment.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
So far, officers have conducted around 80 interviews and are planning to question nearly all the school's staff and students -- amounting to almost 450 people, according to police chief Alriksson.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
The report says San Diego police officers last year conducted more than 244,000 investigative searches of the data and that it played a “key role in advancing 361 cases.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
It was contrasted with a picture released by the court on Thursday, in which a worn, white-haired Xu stood unsmiling, flanked by two police officers as he faced a panel of judges.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Later during the patrol, officers receive a radio call.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Police officers fought their way through the crowd and spirited Maggie and Leah out a back door.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Most piano companies are tight little family concerns, often officered by grandsons and great-grandsons of the founders, who look down their noses at the raucous upstarts of wind and string.
From Time Magazine Archive
Our new armies are officered by classes of society who are new to the job.
From Time Magazine Archive
Younger brothers Bob and Wilky went off to war and officered with distinction.
From Time Magazine Archive
In an army largely officered by the least promising sons of wealthy families, he was a standout taskmaster and a social flop.
From Time Magazine Archive
It's open gossip all over the West that the P. S. L. is officered by a lot of dummies and place-hunters and relatives.
From The Wreckers by Francis Lynde
But decades of corruption in palace and government paid off disastrously in lack of ammunition, inferior arms and cowardly officering.
From Time Magazine Archive
In addition to these improvements in the dress and discipline of the men, Peter adopted an entirely new system in officering his troops.
From Peter the Great by Jacob Abbott
We will hold immediately an election of officers—and that's as pernicious a method of officering companies and regiments as can be imagined!
From The Long Roll by Mary Johnston
A report which the Secretary of the Navy is preparing on the subject, to be laid before Congress, will shew at the same time the progress made in officering and manning these ships.
From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 1, part 4: James Madison by James D. (James Daniel) Richardson
In every direction the gentry were enrolling their tenants, the sons of the great houses officering the corps and drilling their own retainers.
From The Story of Ireland by Emily Lawless
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.
