# commander

Pronunciation: US say "kuh-MAN-dur" /kəˈmændɚ/; UK say "kuh-MAHN-duh" /kəˈmɑːndə/

## Noun

1. A person who controls and directs a military or naval organization.
   - Simple: A person who is in charge of a military group and gives the orders.
   - _The commander coordinated air and ground forces during the offensive._
   - _As fleet commander, she answered directly to the admiralty._
2. A naval officer holding a rank above lieutenant commander and below captain.
   - Simple: A naval officer ranked just above a lieutenant commander and just below a captain.
   - _The commander relayed the captain's orders to the engine room._
   - _He served as a commander aboard a frigate before his promotion._
3. A person who exercises control and direction over a group of people.
   - Simple: A person who leads and gives orders to a group of people.
   - _The expedition's commander divided the volunteers into smaller teams._
   - _As commander of the relief effort, she directed thousands of workers._
4. An official title identifying a position or level of authority in some civilian organizations, including NASA and certain police forces.
   - Simple: A job title or rank used in some non-military groups, such as NASA or the police.
   - _The precinct commander reassigned officers to the night shift._
   - _NASA named her commander of the upcoming space station mission._
5. A grade of membership in an order of honor, as in the title Commander of the Legion of Honor.
   - Simple: A rank of honor within an order, such as the French Legion of Honor.
   - _The president named the violinist a commander of the order of arts._
   - _He was promoted from officer to commander within the chivalric order._
6. A sergeant or a soldier of higher rank. *(Singapore)*
   - Simple: A soldier who has reached the rank of sergeant or above.
   - _Each commander supervised a squad of junior enlisted soldiers._
   - _The base assigned a commander to oversee every training platoon._
7. A heavy beetle or wooden mallet, used in paving, sail lofts, and similar work.
   - Simple: A heavy wooden mallet used to pound things, such as paving stones.
   - _The paver pounded each cobble into the sand with a commander._
   - _In the sail loft, she flattened the stiff seams using a wooden commander._
8. Any of several Asian butterflies of the genus Moduza, in the brush-footed family Nymphalidae.
   - Simple: A kind of Asian butterfly with patterned wings, from a group called Moduza.
   - _The commander glided between the canopy flowers at midday._
   - _Collectors prize the commander for its striking banded wings._

## Noun

9. The chief officer in charge of a commandry, an estate or branch of a military or religious order. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The head officer in charge of a commandry, an old type of religious or knightly center.
   - _The commander summoned the brethren to discuss the failing harvest._
   - _Each commander reported the commandry's revenues to the grand master._

## Origin

From Middle English comaundour, borrowed from Old French comandeor, from comander ('to command'). By surface analysis, it is command + -er.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/commander (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).