admiral

[ad-mer-uhl]

noun

1. the commander in chief of a fleet.

2. a naval officer of the highest rank.

3. a naval officer of a high rank: the grades in the U.S. Navy are fleet admiral, admiral, vice-admiral, and rear admiral.

4. Obsolete.,  the flagship of an admiral.

5. British.,  a master who directs a fishing fleet.

6. any of several often brightly colored butterflies of the family Nymphalidae, as Vanessa atalanta red admiral.

admiral

/ ˈædmərəl /

noun

1. the supreme commander of a fleet or navy

2. Also called: admiral of the fleet.  fleet admiral. a naval officer of the highest rank, equivalent to general of the army or field marshal

3. a senior naval officer entitled to fly his own flag See also rear admiral vice admiral

4. the master of a fishing fleet

5. any of various nymphalid butterflies, esp the red admiral or white admiral

Other Word Forms

• admiralship noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of admiral¹

1175–1225; Middle English, variant of amiral < Old French < Arabic amīr al commander of the; -d- < Medieval Latin admīrābilis mundī for Arabic amīr al-mu'minīn commander of the faithful; or with replacement of a- ⁵ by ad-, as in administer

Word History and Origins

Origin of admiral¹

C13: amyral, from Old French amiral emir, and from Medieval Latin admīrālis (the spelling with d probably influenced by admīrābilis admirable); both from Arabic amīr emir, commander, esp in the phrase amīr-al commander of, as in amīr-al-bahr commander of the sea

Example Sentences

If you want a monster to blame, blame the admiral.

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Simon and Penelope suspected that the unreadable diary of the ill-fated trip to Ahwoo-Ahwoo might have described the same voyage taken by Pudge and the admiral, and might even have been written by Pudge himself.

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The thickness of his tall boots must have absorbed the blows, for the admiral did not seem to mind or even stop to acknowledge his tiny attacker.

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“I believe the admiral was the current Lord Ashton’s great-grandfather,” she explained.

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Police say a man has been arrested following an investigation into a suspected fake admiral at a Remembrance Sunday event.

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Related Words

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