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commanding officer
noun
: an officer in command
especially
: an officer in the armed forces in command of an organization or installation
Examples of commanding officer in a Sentence
He reported the incident to his commanding officer.
reported directly to the fort's commanding officer
Recent Examples on the Web
Led by commanding officer Charity Adams, the Six Triple Eight were deployed to Europe to tackle an insurmountable task: sorting and delivering over 17 million pieces of backlog mail that had accumulated over 10-plus months, most of which were damaged or undeliverable due to poor storage conditions.
—Jessica Wang, EW.com, 20 Dec. 2024
The commanding officer of the precinct is NYPD Captain Jean Beauvoir, who previously headed the 105th precinct.
—Nicholas Williams, New York Daily News, 19 Dec. 2024
Officers march out to affirm their allegiance to their commanding officer.
—Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 20 Nov. 2024
Their commanding officers had not been given instructions or battle plans in advance.
—Sarah A. Topol, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2024
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Word History
First Known Use
1720, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of commanding officer was
in 1720
Dictionary Entries Near commanding officer
Cite this Entry
“Commanding officer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commanding%20officer. Accessed 3 Jan. 2025.
Kids Definition
commanding officer
noun
: an officer having charge of a military or naval unit, organization, or base
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