commander

See also: Commander

English

Etymology

From Middle English commaunder, comaunder, borrowed from Old French cumandeur, comandëor, from comander. See command.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈmændɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɑːndə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

commander (plural commanders)

1. One who exercises control and direction of a military or naval organization.
2. A naval officer whose rank is above that of a lieutenant commander and below that of captain.
3. One who exercises control and direction over a group of persons.
4. A designation or rank in certain non-military organizations such as NASA and various police forces.
5. (obsolete) The chief officer of a commandry.
6. A heavy beetle or wooden mallet, used in paving, in sail lofts, etc.
7. A rank within an honorary order: e.g. Commander of the Legion of Honour.

Derived terms

• commanderless
• commanderlike
• commanderly

Translations

one who exercises control and direction of a military or naval organization

• Arabic: آمِر‎‎ m (ʾāmir), أُمَرَاء‎‎ pl (ʾumarāʾ) (plural of آمر)
• Armenian: հրամանատար (hy) (hramanatar)
• Belarusian: камандзі́р m (kamandzír)
• Bulgarian: команди́р (bg) m (komandír)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 司令 (zh) (sīlìng), 司令官 (zh) (sīlìngguān), 指揮官 (zh), 指挥官 (zh) (zhǐhuīguān)

• Czech: velitel (cs) m
• Dutch: commandant (nl) m
• Estonian: ülem
• Finnish: komentaja (fi)
• French: commandant (fr) m, commandante (fr) f
• Georgian: ზორვარი (zorvari)
• German: Befehlshaber (de) m, Kommandant (de) m, Kommandeur (de) m, Kommandör m
• Hebrew: מפקד‎‎ (he) m (mefaqed), מפקדת‎‎ f (mefaqedet)
• Indonesian: panglima (id), komandan (id)
• Japanese: 司令 (ja) (しれい, shirei), 司令官 (ja) (しれいかん, shireikan)
• Korean: 사령 (ko) (saryeong), 사령관 (ko) (saryeonggwan)
• Macedonian: командант m (komandant), заповедник m (zapovednik)

• Malay: komander
• Maori: toihau, kaiwhakahau
• Navajo: hashkééjí naatʼááh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommandant m

  Nynorsk: kommandant m

• Polish: dowódca (pl) m
• Portuguese: comandante (pt) m, f
• Russian: команди́р (ru) m (komandír)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannard m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: заповѐднӣк m

  Roman: zapovèdnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: veliteľ m
• Slovene: poveljnik m
• Spanish: comandante (es) m
• Swahili: kamanda (sw)
• Swedish: befälhavare (sv) c
• Ukrainian: команди́р m (komandýr)

a naval officer whose rank is above that of a lieutenant commander and below that of captain

• Bulgarian: капитан трети ранг (kapitan treti rang)
• Czech: fregatní kapitán m, komandér m
• Finnish: komentaja (fi)
• Greek: αντιπλοίαρχος (el) (antiploíarchos)

• Indonesian: mayor (id)
• Russian: комма́ндер (ru) m (kommánder), капита́н тре́тьего ра́нга (ru) m (kapitán trétʹjevo ránga)
• Serbo-Croatian: komandant (sh)
• Slovene: komandant

one who exercises control and direction over a group of persons

• Bulgarian: нача́лник (bg) m (načálnik)
• Czech: velitel (cs) m
• Dutch: aanvoerder (nl), gezagvoerder (nl)
• Estonian: ülem
• Finnish: johtaja (fi), päällikkö (fi)
• Indonesian: komandan (id)

• Latin: praepositus
• Maori: toihau
• Portuguese: comandante (pt) m, f
• Russian: команди́р (ru) m (komandír), нача́льник (ru) m (načálʹnik)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceannard m
• Spanish: comandante (es) m

commander in an honorary order

• French: commandeur (fr) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kommandør m

  Nynorsk: kommandør m

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French

Etymology

From Old French comander, from Vulgar Latin *commandāre, from Latin commendāre, present active infinitive of commendō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

commander

1. to order (tell someone to do something)
2. to order (ask for a product)

Conjugation

Conjugation of commander (see also Appendix:French verbs)

present participle		commandant /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɑ̃/
past participle		commandé /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/
infinitive
simple		commander
compound		avoir + past participle
gerund1
simple		commandant /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɑ̃/
compound		ayant + past participle
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandes /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɔ̃/	commandez /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/	commandent /kɔ.mɑ̃d/
	imperfect	commandais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandait /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandions /kɔ.mɑ̃.djɔ̃/	commandiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dje/	commandaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/
	past historic2	commandai /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛ/	commandas /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commanda /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commandâmes /kɔ.mɑ̃.dam/	commandâtes /kɔ.mɑ̃.dat/	commandèrent /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɛʁ/
	future	commanderai /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderas /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁa/	commandera /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁa/	commanderons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/	commanderez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁe/	commanderont /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	commanderais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderais /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderait /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/	commanderions /kɔ.mɑ̃.də.ʁjɔ̃/	commanderiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.də.ʁje/	commanderaient /kɔ.mɑ̃.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandes /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	commandions /kɔ.mɑ̃.djɔ̃/	commandiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.dje/	commandent /kɔ.mɑ̃d/
	imperfect2	commandasse /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/	commandasses /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/	commandât /kɔ.mɑ̃.da/	commandassions /kɔ.mɑ̃.da.sjɔ̃/	commandassiez /kɔ.mɑ̃.da.sje/	commandassent /kɔ.mɑ̃.das/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	commande /kɔ.mɑ̃d/	—	commandons /kɔ.mɑ̃.dɔ̃/	commandez /kɔ.mɑ̃.de/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 Only usable with preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, the past historic, past anterior, imperfect subjunctive and pluperfect subjunctive tenses may be found to have been replaced with the indicative present perfect, indicative pluperfect, present subjunctive and past subjunctive tenses respectively (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• commandeur
• commandement

Related terms

• commande

Further reading

• “commander” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).