1
as in supervising
to be in charge of
if you do well on this, you'll be asked to captain the next mission
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in governing
to exercise authority or power over
captained the project for a few days while the boss was out of town
Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in leading
to serve as leader of
you did a good job of captaining the team
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of captaining
Pat Rafter, who is assisting tennis legend and former Bay Area resident Andre Agassi in captaining Team World, certainly knows his squad is facing quite a challenge in trying to stop Alcaraz.
—
Jim Harrington, Mercury News, 19 Sep. 2025
The youth-team graduate has been a big part of Athletic’s successes in recent years under coach Ernesto Valverde, even captaining the team on occasion from the back.
—Colin Millar, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Co-captaining the Time Bandit, the veteran fishermen kicked off a modern-day gold rush — but the race for the rare crab took a dangerous turn when chaos erupted aboard the Titan Explorer and forced Captain Jake Anderson’s crew to abandon ship.
—Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 7 Aug. 2025
From being seen as a rugby reject to captaining an NFL team and winning a Super Bowl, Mailata’s story is proof that with dedication and hard work, international athletes can reach the pinnacle of American football.
—Sindiswa Mabunda, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Around the same time, Emily Bode’s father was captaining his high school football team, which inspired her to choose the silhouette for the collaboration and heavily influenced the retro aesthetic of the marketing.
—Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Jim Harrington, Mercury News, 19 Sep. 2025
The youth-team graduate has been a big part of Athletic’s successes in recent years under coach Ernesto Valverde, even captaining the team on occasion from the back.
—Colin Millar, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Co-captaining the Time Bandit, the veteran fishermen kicked off a modern-day gold rush — but the race for the rare crab took a dangerous turn when chaos erupted aboard the Titan Explorer and forced Captain Jake Anderson’s crew to abandon ship.
—Stephanie Giang-Paunon, FOXNews.com, 7 Aug. 2025
From being seen as a rugby reject to captaining an NFL team and winning a Super Bowl, Mailata’s story is proof that with dedication and hard work, international athletes can reach the pinnacle of American football.
—Sindiswa Mabunda, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
Around the same time, Emily Bode’s father was captaining his high school football team, which inspired her to choose the silhouette for the collaboration and heavily influenced the retro aesthetic of the marketing.
—Ian Servantes, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for captaining
Verb
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Working within restricted space, Lanthimos felt the need to go big with the filmmaking, both with supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Johnnie Burn’s sound design and composer Jerskin Fendrix’s music, which is by far the biggest score in the score-adverse director’s career.—
Chris O'Falt,
IndieWire,
31 Oct. 2025
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The children's parents were simply socializing like normal, the man wrote, not supervising the kids at all.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The election is over; governing begins.—
Sally Susman,
Time,
5 Nov. 2025
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Non-residency, delinquency, or even unresolved governing document violations are not reasons to deny any owner a ballot.—
Kelly G. Richardson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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That more than compensated for the absence of Dixon-Waters, who was SDSU’s leading scorer in both preseason exhibitions (19 and 17 points) after missing all of last season with a fractured bone in his foot that refused to heal quickly.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Nov. 2025
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Thanks in part to Butler's aggressive rebounding, playmaking and defense, the Warriors had looked utterly dominant in the opening half, and were leading by double digits, 68-49, at the break.—
Alex Kirschenbaum,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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About the Author Jordan Blum is the Energy editor at Fortune, overseeing coverage of a growing global energy sector for oil and gas, transition businesses, renewables, and critical minerals.—
Jordan Blum,
Fortune,
3 Nov. 2025
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The project is executive produced by Julie Kroll, Lior Haas, Lisa Wolofsky and Edoardo Bussi of Twenty-Nine Palms Entertainment, who is overseeing global sales and will be presenting the title to distributors at the AFM.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
3 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Among Franco’s other movies about worlds in turmoil is New Order, the 2020 Spanish language drama that portrayed a coup d’état in which the wealthy ruling class is replaced by a militarized regime, and which bowed in Venice.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
31 Oct. 2025
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Her approval ratings soared after taking office, but her ruling party still lacks a parliamentary majority after recent election losses.—
Betsy Klein,
CNN Money,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Democrats similarly notched commanding victories in county executive races in Erie, Lehigh and Northampton counties, all bellwether counties in recent presidential elections.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
5 Nov. 2025
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Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi also tackles two characters with commanding rage and badass physicality.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Be careful when handling debris that may have blown into your yard.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
25 Oct. 2025
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According to the announcement, salmonella can affect the animals eating the products and possibly humans handling the products.—
Eva Wen,
jsonline.com,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Your biggest challenge this month is managing your expectations, especially when emotions run high.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
4 Nov. 2025
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Every child benefits from practicing waiting, joining conversation and managing boredom in everyday settings.—
Daniella Gray,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Captaining.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captaining. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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