SINCE 1828
petty officer
nounDefinition of petty officer
: a subordinate officer in the navy or coast guard appointed from among the enlisted men — compare noncommissioned officer
Examples of petty officer in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The jury reduced Gallagher's rank by one grade to petty officer 1st class and ordered his monthly pay cut by $2,697 for four months. — CBS News, "Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher sentenced for posing with corpse of ISIS fighter," 3 July 2019 The jury called for reducing Gallagher's rank by one grade to petty officer 1st class and ordered his monthly pay cut by $2,697 for four months. — John Antczak, chicagotribune.com, "Navy SEAL acquitted of murder gets 4 months of confinement for posing with corpse," 3 July 2019 Miller was a petty officer 1st class in 2017 and has since been promoted. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher is not guilty of murder, was acquitted of most charges," 2 July 2019 Richardson credited a team of female sailors – mostly petty officers –for helping to craft the new regulations. — Joel Shannon, USA TODAY, "Navy to allow women to wear their hair in ponytails, locks and other styles," 12 July 2018 The San Antonio Express-News reports that Navy petty officer Coy Washington Black, who died at 67, had been in the basement the longest — 15 years. — Fox News, "Remains of 8 veterans, long unclaimed, buried in San Antonio," 3 June 2018 Smith, who reached the rank of petty officer, dropped by the restaurant every day for seven months and bought a diamond ring. — Sig Christenson, San Antonio Express-News, "On Memorial Day in S.A., the fallen are saluted and remembered," 28 May 2018 Xavier Crowd, a petty officer in the U.S. Navy, surprised the Ballston Spa High School graduate on June 21st by walking onstage with her diploma in hand. — Danielle Garrand, CBS News, "Navy officer deployed overseas surprises sister at graduation," 24 June 2018 With her wereher Navy petty officer husband, Mark, also 29, and two sons, Joseph, 5, and Matthew, 2. — John Wilkens, sandiegouniontribune.com, "WAR EXTRA: Operation Desert Storm," 17 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'petty officer.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on petty officer
What made you want to look up petty officer? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Farm Idioms Quiz
-
- What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games
Share petty officer
Resources for petty officer