Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

staff officer

American  

noun

Military.
  1. a commissioned officer who is a member of a staff.


staff officer British  

noun

  1. a commissioned officer serving on the staff of a commander, service, or central headquarters

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of staff officer

First recorded in 1695–1705

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:

Army desk-johnny—“a staff officer pushing paper and sweating details,” Mr. Jordan writes.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 5, 2026

The BBC documentary also hears from another former soldier - a senior staff officer, who says he served in the Russian military for 17 years.

From BBC Feb. 24, 2026

“I am beginning to think that what we need is a type of staff officer with at least three heads—one political, one economic, and one military.”

From Slate Feb. 9, 2026

Fires have been on the rise in the West this week, said Kit Moffitt, deputy fire staff officer with the Forest Service, in a statement.

From Seattle Times Aug. 17, 2023

Now it was much darker and the moon was high, and then ahead there was an officer, a staff officer, sitting on a black horse.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 12,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training