admiral
Americannoun
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the commander in chief of a fleet.
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a naval officer of the highest rank.
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a naval officer of a high rank: the grades in the U.S. Navy are fleet admiral, admiral, vice-admiral, and rear admiral.
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Obsolete. the flagship of an admiral.
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British. a master who directs a fishing fleet.
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any of several often brightly colored butterflies of the family Nymphalidae, as Vanessa atalanta red admiral.
noun
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the supreme commander of a fleet or navy
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Also called: admiral of the fleet. fleet admiral. a naval officer of the highest rank, equivalent to general of the army or field marshal
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a senior naval officer entitled to fly his own flag See also rear admiral vice admiral
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the master of a fishing fleet
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any of various nymphalid butterflies, esp the red admiral or white admiral
Other Word Forms
- admiralship noun
Etymology
Origin of admiral
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
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's risen to the rank of rear admiral, he's given enormous service to this country.
From BBC
Police were following reports that Carley, who had attended a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in north Wales dressed as a rear admiral, was actually an imposter.
From BBC
A man has been fined £500 after admitting to dressing as a navy admiral without permission at a Remembrance Sunday event.
From BBC
To promote his call for a separate air force, Mitchell exaggerated the outcome—including the apocryphal claim that admirals witnessing the demonstration “wept aloud” as the target went under.
From Los Angeles Times
That was accurate until recently, according to Rob Bauer, a retired Dutch admiral who served as one of NATO’s top military officials until this year.
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.
