admiral

[ ad-mer-uhl ]
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noun
  1. the commander in chief of a fleet.

  2. a naval officer of the highest rank.

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

  2. Obsolete. the flagship of an admiral.

  3. British. a master who directs a fishing fleet.

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

Origin of admiral

1
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

Other words from admiral

  • ad·mi·ral·ship, noun

Words Nearby admiral

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How to use admiral in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for 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

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

  2. mainly British the master of a fishing fleet

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

Origin of admiral

1
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

Derived forms of admiral

  • admiralship, noun

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