commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er kə-ˈmi-sh(ə-)nər 

: a person with a commission: such as

a

: a member of a commission

b

: the representative of the governmental authority in a district, province, or other unit often having both judicial and administrative powers

c

: the officer in charge of a department or bureau of the public service

d

: the administrative head of a professional sport

commissionership

kə-ˈmi-sh(ə-)nər-ˌship 

noun

Examples of commissioner in a Sentence

The baseball commissioner decided to suspend the players for 10 games.

Recent Examples on the Web

Martin O'Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner during the Biden administration, removed many of those jobs from consideration after scrutiny from lawmakers following an investigation in 2022 by The Post. —Lisa Rein, Arkansas Online, 23 Nov. 2025

Devan Allen, a former Tarrant County commissioner who opposed 287(g) agreements, said she was told the agreement was only supposed to target violent crime offenders. —Rick Jervis, USA Today, 22 Nov. 2025

And, during an October board meeting, numerous local advocates and residents told commissioners that making camping a misdemeanor would directly harm the county’s homeless population. —Kansas City Star, 22 Nov. 2025

And although it was rumored that then-commissioner David Stern denied the trade out of concern that other team owners object to the league’s best point guard playing alongside Kobe Bryant, the league denied that was the case. —Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 22 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "person empowered to carry out defined duties," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin commissiōnārius, from commissiōn-, commissiō commission entry 1 + Latin -ārius -ary entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing commissioner

• high commissioner
• resident commissioner

Rhymes for commissioner

• conditioner
• parishioner
• petitioner
• positioner
• practitioner
• missioner

Kids Definition

commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er kə-ˈmish-(ə-)nər 

1

: a member of a commission

2

: an official in charge of a government department

Police Commissioner

Legal Definition

commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er

: a person with a commission: as

a

: a member of a commission

b

often capitalized : the officer in charge of a government agency

a police commissioner