commander

American  

[kuh-man-der, -mahn-] / kəˈmæn dər, -ˈmɑn- /

noun

1. a person who commands.

2. a person who exercises authority; chief officer; leader.

3. the commissioned officer in command of a military unit.

4. U.S. Navy. an officer ranking below a captain and above a lieutenant commander.

5. a police officer in charge of a precinct or other unit.

6. the chief officer of a commandery in the medieval orders of Knights Hospitalers, Knights Templars, and others.

7. a member of one of the higher classes or ranks in certain modern fraternal orders, as in the Knights Templars.

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commander British  

/ kəˈmɑːndə /

noun

1. an officer in command of a military formation or operation

2. a naval commissioned rank junior to captain but senior to lieutenant commander

3. the second in command of larger British warships

4. someone who holds authority

5. a high-ranking member of some knightly or fraternal orders

6. an officer responsible for a district of the Metropolitan Police in London

7. history the administrator of a house, priory, or landed estate of a medieval religious order

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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

Related Words

• administrator
• captain
• chief
• commandant
• director
• head
• officer
• ruler