officer
Americannoun
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officers
plural
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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.
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a member of a police department or a constable.
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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.
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a person appointed or elected to some position of responsibility or authority in the government, a corporation, a society, etc.
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(in some honorary orders) a member of any rank except the lowest.
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Obsolete. an agent.
verb (used with object)
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officers,
present (3rd person singular)
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officered,
past participle, past
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officering
present participle
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to furnish with officers.
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to command or direct as an officer does.
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to direct, conduct, or manage.
noun
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a person in the armed services who holds a position of responsibility, authority, and duty, esp one who holds a commission
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See police officer
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(on a non-naval ship) any person including the captain and mate, who holds a position of authority and responsibility
radio officer
engineer officer
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a person appointed or elected to a position of responsibility or authority in a government, society, etc
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a government official
a customs officer
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(in the Order of the British Empire) a member of the grade below commander
verb
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to furnish with officers
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to act as an officer over (some section, group, organization, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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officerhoodnoun
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officershipnoun
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subofficernoun
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underofficernoun
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officerialadjective
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officerlessadjective
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unofficeredadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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officersimple
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officerssimple
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have officeredperfect
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has officeredperfect
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am officeringprogressive
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are officeringprogressive
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is officeringprogressive
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have been officeringperfect progressive
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has been officeringperfect progressive
Past
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officeredsimple
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had officeredperfect
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was officeringprogressive
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were officeringprogressive
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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:
Value of the deals between creators and brands that Dhar Mann, Advertising Week New York’s first chief creator officer, wants to broker during the event currently underway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
“The detection of rabies in a raccoon is an important reminder to never touch, handle, or feed any wild animals, even when they appear healthy,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, health officer for Los Angeles County.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
A high-ranking German intelligence officer was charged with treason in 2023 for allegedly passing state secrets to Russia.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
In this case, Kyodo reported that a police officer questioned and detained the suspect as he walked alone on a street in Naha's entertainment district late Saturday.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
As a naval officer, Dr. Kane had trained to be a leader.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
That probe cited significant efforts by the mine to improve safety, including rules prohibiting private security officers from carrying weapons, Barrick said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
He said asylum caseworkers had initially spotted patterns in suspicious claims, which raised concerns about the group, and that immigration officers had been investigating for several months.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
“Remember, there are officers who are professional and we cannot judge all officers by one’s actions, but I will continue to monitor this investigation.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
A police union source said he picked up a sting-ball grenade fired by riot officers.
From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026
As each woman reached a desk where some officers sat, she had to lay her blanket, pillowcase, and whatever else she carried onto a growing pile of these things.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Younger brothers Bob and Wilky went off to war and officered with distinction.
From Time Magazine Archive
Three weeks later they would return, clad in a motley array of khaki uniforms and armed with the weapons they had been taught to use in a crash program officered by Algerian "volunteers."
From Time Magazine Archive
These Circles are groups of 20, organized by counties, each officered only by a secretary.
From Time Magazine Archive
Admittedly, pacification is lagging woefully, and the South's army, officered largely by opportunists or languid political appointees, is a major weakness.
From Time Magazine Archive
However highly organized and officered a Church may be, no joy would fill an apostle’s heart in beholding it, if the mass of its members had no share in its activities.
From The Expositor's Bible: Colossians and Philemon by Alexander Maclaren
But decades of corruption in palace and government paid off disastrously in lack of ammunition, inferior arms and cowardly officering.
From Time Magazine Archive
The essential difference between the German soldiers and our own is in the officering and training, and it is admirably expressed by Private Burrell, Northumberland Fusiliers.
From Tommy Atkins at War As Told in His Own Letters by James Alexander Kilpatrick
Unquestionably the Russian war did us the service of thoroughly exposing the rottenness of our military system so far as concerned the officering of the army.
From English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. by Graham Everitt
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
There must be neither companies to fill their own pockets out of it, nor trustees who can cramp the management, or interfere with the officering, or shorten the supplies of it.
From On the Old Road, Vol. 2 (of 2) A Collection of Miscellaneous Essays and Articles on Art and Literature by John Ruskin
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.
