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:
“With summer travel underway, the risk of exposure to infectious diseases may increase,” said Muntu Davis, county public health officer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
It could play a similar role as Vietnam's economically powerful military did in that country's transition, the officer said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Koray Kavukcuoglu, currently DeepMind’s chief technology officer, will take over as senior vice president of the unit, reporting directly to Pichai.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Unison ambulance national officer Sharan Bandesha said it was time for a re-think.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
That night when the officer screamed at me to get him Brightwood, to connect him to Brightwood immediately.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
It also said parking charges would pay for two enforcement officers in North Berwick to look out for anyone parking illegally, which isn’t exactly what the town was hoping for.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
In a report to executive, external, the fall in numbers had been attributed to a change in booking system which officers said would "require further monitoring".
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
She remained in custody Wednesday afternoon, it said, noting officers had seized a pair of scissors at the scene.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the IOPC's decision brought an end to "almost four years of uncertainty" for Blake, calling the accountability process for police officers "disgraceful".
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
As for the ring, the shady characters who dealt in stolen items were well known to the Saint Petersburg police, and officers were dispatched to interview them all.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
These Circles are groups of 20, organized by counties, each officered only by a secretary.
From Time Magazine Archive
For months Mongokuo has had a de facto government, headed by Prince Teh, together with an army of some 10,000 Mongolians and Manchukuoans officered and commanded by Japanese.
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
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
Like an army it is officered with its generalissimo, its under generals, its colonels, its captains, its lieutenants, its sergeants and its corporals.
From The Romance of a Great Store by Hungerford, Edward
But decades of corruption in palace and government paid off disastrously in lack of ammunition, inferior arms and cowardly officering.
From Time Magazine Archive
Reaching the Eagle, Rooke, who had now the command of the attacking party, rapidly made his dispositions for despatching the flotilla—the officering of the various fireships being at his disposition.
From In the Day of Adversity by Bloundelle-Burton, John
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 Abbott, Jacob
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 Everitt, Graham
"The cult of the Asiatic life" is the latest definition of Christianity given by a recent apologist of Hinduism, one of a small company of Europeans in India officering the Hindu revival.
From New Ideas in India During the Nineteenth Century A Study of Social, Political, and Religious Developments by Morrison, John
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.
