rear admiral

noun

|Updated on: 3 Aug 2018

Definition of rear admiral

: a commissioned officer in the navy or coast guard having either of two ranks:

a : one who ranks above a captain — called also rear admiral (lower half)

b : one who ranks above a rear admiral (lower half) and below a vice admiral — called also rear admiral (upper half)

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Recent Examples of rear admiral from the Web

Jackson is also currently an active-duty one-star rear admiral (lower half) in the Navy.

— jen kirby, Vox, "Ronny Jackson, Trump’s pick for VA secretary, is an unknown quantity," 29 Mar. 2018
And unlike some other top Trump administration officials, Gallaudet - a retired Navy rear admiral with a doctorate in oceanography - has not publicly questioned the link between human activity and climate change.

— chris mooney, Anchorage Daily News, "Ocean science agency chief suggests removing 'climate' from mission statement," 25 June 2018
The Navy rear admiral withdrew his bid to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the allegations came to light.

— Anchorage Daily News, "White House: No evidence that Jackson ‘wrecked’ a vehicle as president’s physician," 28 Apr. 2018
But the 50-year-old US Navy rear admiral remains President Donald Trump's physician and the head of an office that treats the first family, Vice President Mike Pence, members of the Trump Cabinet and other senior government officials.

— mj lee and juana summers, CNN, "Several White House medical unit staffers describe pressure to hand out meds," 27 Apr. 2018
President Trump has chosen Ronny Jackson as a VA replacement, and the rear admiral is best known as the White House doctor.

— the editorial board, WSJ, "A Trump Choice for Veterans," 30 Mar. 2018
Jackson, a Navy rear admiral and former combat physician who served in Iraq, came under scrutiny after the office of Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) released a list of allegations about him from more than 20 unnamed current and former work colleagues.

— washington post, latimes.com, "Pence's doctor resigns amid ongoing furor over White House Medical Unit," 4 May 2018
Jackson, a rear admiral of the U.S. Navy, has been working as a presidential physician since the George W. Bush administration, and has monitored Trump's health since Trump became president.

— steve holland, Anchorage Daily News, "Trump ousts VA Secretary Shulkin, will nominate White House physician to succeed him," 28 Mar. 2018
The second is Grace Hopper, an autodidact, teacher, and Navy rear admiral, among many other things.

— anna wiener, The New Republic, "The Internet Women Made," 1 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rear admiral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.