petty officer

American  

noun

petty officers plural

1. a noncommissioned U.S. Navy rank with three grades.

2. one of the minor officers on a merchant ship, as a boatswain or carpenter.

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petty officer British  

noun

1. a noncommissioned officer in a naval service, comparable in rank to a sergeant in an army or marine corps

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• petty officers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of petty officer

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

petty officer

Mr Zhao was a petty officer working at a California naval base.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2024

They deliver the text with immaculate polish; even Gabe Kessler, as a petty officer who nervously takes the stand, seems to have nailed every stutter.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2023

As a petty officer second-class stationed in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Antarctica, he never experienced combat.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2023

Gregory Allen Howard was born Jan. 28, 1952, in Norfolk, but moved frequently because of his stepfather’s assignments as a Navy chief petty officer.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2023

A senior chief petty officer named Angel Torres remembered, “All of the sudden, this big cloud engulfs us. It wasn’t white smoke. It was like something I’d never seen before.”

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland