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

Meanwhile, league commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently announced her plans to step down at the end of the calendar year. — Sam Fragoso, NPR, 10 Sep. 2026

Ray Kelly served two non-consecutive terms and is the longest-serving NYPD commissioner in history. — Chris Wragge, CBS News, 10 Sep. 2026

The new commissioner of the WPFFL starts to complain that their league is being discriminated against because of the large amount of Lesbians in the league. — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

At the time, NBA commissioner Adam Silver declared the change was intended to signal that the WNBA held equal stature with other major professional leagues. — Jerry Brewer, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026

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