warrant officer

English

Noun

warrant officer (plural warrant officers)

1. (military) An officer holding rank by virtue of a warrant rather than a commission.
2. (law enforcement) An officer assigned to execute warrants and other writs.
   • 1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, page 162:

     The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.

Usage notes

In military services still employing warrant officers, they rank below the commissioned officers but above the NCOs.

Synonyms

• (military): WO (abbreviation)
• (law enforcement): pursuivant (historical); bailiff; beadle

Hypernyms

• (law enforcement): catchpoll (arresting for debt)

Coordinate terms

• (military officer) commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer, petty officer, general officer, flag officer, field officer, staff officer

Derived terms

• chief warrant officer (CWO)
• master warrant officer (MWO)
• senior warrant officer (SWO)
• warrant officer 2
• warrant officer class 1
• warrant officer class 2

 

Translations

member of military

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 准尉 (zh) (zhǔnwèi)

• Finnish: vääpeli (fi)
• French: adjudant (fr) m
• Greek: ανθυπασπιστής (el) (anthypaspistís)
• Hungarian: tiszthelyettes (hu)
• Indonesian: bintara tinggi (id)
• Irish: oifigeach barántais m
• Italian: ruolo marescialli m, ufficiale garante m, capomandamento m, maresciallo (it) m
• Japanese: 准士官 (ja) (じゅんしかん, junshikan), 准尉 (ja) (じゅんい, juni)
• Polish: chorąży (pl) m, chorąża (pl) f
• Russian: уо́ррент-офице́р m (uórrɛnt-oficér), зауря́д-офице́р m (zaurjád-oficér), ми́чман (ru) m (míčman)

law enforcement

• Bulgarian: съдия-изпълнител m (sǎdija-izpǎlnitel)
• Polish: aspirant (pl) m, aspirantka (pl) f

See also

• (law enforcement): process server

See also

• company sergeant major, CSM
• regimental sergeant major, RSM
• WO1, WO2