rear admiral

American  

noun

1. U.S. Navy, Coast Guard. a commissioned officer next in rank below a vice-admiral.

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rear admiral British  

noun

1. an officer holding flag rank in any of certain navies, junior to a vice admiral

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Etymology

Origin of rear admiral

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

Navy rear admiral, estimated it could take three to four weeks from the start of Iran’s retaliatory attacks on March 1 to reduce the risk of transiting the strait to manageable levels.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026

When Robert Duvall was floundering around in college, his father, a career Navy man who retired with the rank of rear admiral, told him to shape up — and start acting.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2026

Critical Metals, a British Virgin Islands-based company developing a rare-earth mine in Greenland, last year appointed a retired four-star general and a retired rear admiral to an advisory board.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 1, 2026

Navy’s senior officers, is one notch below rear admiral, the lowest-ranking flag officer.

From Slate • Jan. 13, 2026

One of his cousins, Samuel Phillips Lee, was a rear admiral in the Union navy. k Lee’s father, General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, was a hero of the American Revolution.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly