commander
Americannoun
-
a person who commands.
-
a person who exercises authority; chief officer; leader.
-
the commissioned officer in command of a military unit.
-
U.S. Navy. an officer ranking below a captain and above a lieutenant commander.
-
a police officer in charge of a precinct or other unit.
-
the chief officer of a commandery in the medieval orders of Knights Hospitalers, Knights Templars, and others.
-
a member of one of the higher classes or ranks in certain modern fraternal orders, as in the Knights Templars.
noun
-
an officer in command of a military formation or operation
-
a naval commissioned rank junior to captain but senior to lieutenant commander
-
the second in command of larger British warships
-
someone who holds authority
-
a high-ranking member of some knightly or fraternal orders
-
an officer responsible for a district of the Metropolitan Police in London
-
history the administrator of a house, priory, or landed estate of a medieval religious order
Other Word Forms
- commandership noun
- subcommander noun
- subcommandership noun
- undercommander noun
Etymology
Origin of commander
1250–1300; Middle English < Old French comandere, equivalent to comand ( er ) to command + -ere < Latin -ātōr- -ator
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.
He is the commander in chief of the armed forces and oversees other key institutions, such as the judicial branch and state media.
From Salon
The U.S. military has sunk or destroyed more than 30 Iranian warships, including a large drone carrier, said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of U.S.
Local commanders acting with incomplete information may strike unintended targets, including neighbouring states that had sought neutrality.
From BBC
In recent weeks, the Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the commander of U.S. military forces in Latin America visited Caracas to meet Rodríguez.
Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, said in a video briefing Tuesday.
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.
