commands

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of command.

   The general's commands reached every unit by morning.

   Voice commands let drivers adjust the music without taking their hands off the wheel.

   Note

   Only the countable uses of command take this plural. These are orders given, as in the general's commands, and the forces or charges placed under an officer, as when two commands are merged into one. The mass sense of mastery or authority stays singular: a speaker has a good command of a language, never good commands. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb, and a determiner before it marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of command.

   A good leader commands loyalty rather than demanding it.

   The fortress commands a clear view of the entire valley.

   Note

   The -s form carries every sense of the verb, and the transitive ones show most clearly in it: a leader commands respect, a hill commands the plain below, a rare skill commands a high price. In those uses the subject is often not a person, and nothing is ordered. The meaning is to secure, deserve or overlook. With a human subject and no object, as in she commands, the older sense of giving orders returns.

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