commander

noun

kuh-MAN-dur/kəˈmændɚ/UKkuh-MAHN-duh/kəˈmɑːndə/

Pluralcommanders

9 meanings of commander

Practice

1
nouncountable
A person who is in charge of a military group and gives the orders.
Like the captain of a sports team who decides what everyone does.
The commander gave the order to advance at dawn.
Every soldier in the camp respected their commander deeply.
Similarcommandant, leader, chief, head, captain
Note
2
nouncountable
A naval officer ranked just above a lieutenant commander and just below a captain.
Like a manager who has bosses above and a team below.
The commander took charge of the destroyer's bridge.
She was promoted to commander after ten years at sea.
Note
3
nouncountable
A person who leads and gives orders to a group of people.
Like a tour guide who decides where the whole group goes.
The rebel commander led hundreds of fighters through the hills.
Their commander told everyone to stay calm and wait.
Similarleader, head, chief, director
4
nouncountable
A job title or rank used in some non-military groups, such as NASA or the police.
The police commander held a press conference about the arrests.
A mission commander guided the astronauts during the launch.
Similarchief, head
5
nouncountable
A rank of honor within an order, such as the French Legion of Honor.
She was made a commander of the national order for her research.
The general received the rank of commander in the honorary order.
6
nounSingaporecountable
A soldier who has reached the rank of sergeant or above.
Like a senior worker who has been promoted enough to lead others.
Every commander in the unit had earned at least the rank of sergeant.
The commander inspected the new recruits at dawn.
Note
7
nouncountable
A heavy wooden mallet used to pound things, such as paving stones.
Like a big wooden hammer used to hit things into place.
The worker swung the commander to drive the stones flat.
He lifted the heavy commander with both hands.
Similarmallet, maul, beetle
8
nouncountable
A kind of Asian butterfly with patterned wings, from a group called Moduza.
Like a colorful butterfly you might see in a tropical garden.
A commander rested on the leaf with its wings spread wide.
They spotted a bright commander near the forest stream.

Less common meaning

9
nounobsolete
The head officer in charge of a commandry, an old type of religious or knightly center.
Like the person who runs a single branch of a large old organization.
The commander of the commandry collected rents from the local farms.
Knights brought their disputes before the commander for judgment.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of commander apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from Old French, from the word for 'to command'. You can see it as 'command' plus '-er'.