commando

noun

com·man·do kə-ˈman-(ˌ)dō

plural commandos or commandoes

Synonyms of commando next

South Africa

: a military unit or command of the Boers

: a raiding expedition

: a military unit trained and organized as shock troops especially for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory

: a member of such a unit

Phrases

go commando

slang : to wear no underwear

Examples of commando in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The Hamas operation was unprecedented in scale and complexity — using drones, powered paragliders, bulldozers, and some 1,500 commandos. —

Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023 Unlike pro-Iranian militia groups in Iraq and even Yemen, and certainly unlike Hamas, Hezbollah is an extremely potent hybrid military organization combining exceptionally effective guerrilla and commando capabilities with conventional military prowess. —

Hussein Ibish, The New Republic, 24 Oct. 2023 Late one evening this month, two Ukrainian commandos eased into a side street in Kyiv in a battered SUV. —

Oleksandr Chubko, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2023 In an act that presaged the viral, on-the-ground footage that would characterize war in the social media age, several armed Hamas commandos filmed themselves in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Gaza office. —

Bypaolo Confino, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2023 Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier this week offered Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant planning and intelligence support from special-operations commandos to help Israel deal with a deepening hostage crisis. —

By ken Thomas, WSJ, 12 Oct. 2023 Destroying aircraft on the ground has always been an effective tactic—during World War II, commandos of the British Special Air Service mounted on jeeps destroyed more Axis warplanes on the ground in Africa than the Royal Air Force downed in the sky during the desert campaign. —

Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 24 Aug. 2023 Email address: Amid the chaos of war, Billing undertakes a dangerous quest to uncover the truth about the Zero Units, squads of Afghan commandos funded, trained and directed by the CIA to go after threats to the United States. —

ProPublica, 3 Nov. 2023 Overnight The Israeli military said soldiers from its marine commando unit targeted Hamas militants from the sea off the southern Gaza Strip overnight. —

Abu Bakr, WSJ, 27 Oct. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'commando.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.