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

During Thursday's planning commission meeting, commissioners discussed the annexation of the property into the City of Woodstock as well as rezoning and variances for the property. — Emily McLeod, CBS News, 7 Aug. 2026

Frank Yiannas, a former FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said that the scale of the outbreak should be an alarm bell for America’s food industry and government agencies. — Yahya Abou-Ghazala, CNN Money, 6 Aug. 2026

An administrative law judge referred a subpoena dispute to the full commission, reported on July 31, and the commissioners can take it up on August 12. — Güney Yıldız, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026

Jennifer was fired from her job as deputy commissioner for public safety for the Mount Vernon Police Department within hours of her arrest. — Julian Roberts-Grmela, New York Daily News, 6 Aug. 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