as in commander
one in official command especially of a military force or base
reported directly to the fort's commanding officer
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Recent Examples of commanding officer
Charlie was my commanding officer.
—
Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 21 Sep. 2025
The general, who served as Shagan's commanding officer in Belize, harnesses the soldier's anger and utilizes it for his own purposes by helping to fund and organize the kidnapping and blackmail plots executed by Shagan.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025
As 911 was called, two off-duty officers happened upon the suspect outside the diner and immediately pulled their weapons, NYPD Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Staten Island, said at a press conference after the fatal shooting.
—Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2025
Quornelius Radford, had once been arrested by local authorities on suspicion of drunken driving — but his commanding officers had not known about that incident, officials said.
—Nbc News, NBC news, 6 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for commanding officer
Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 21 Sep. 2025
The general, who served as Shagan's commanding officer in Belize, harnesses the soldier's anger and utilizes it for his own purposes by helping to fund and organize the kidnapping and blackmail plots executed by Shagan.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025
As 911 was called, two off-duty officers happened upon the suspect outside the diner and immediately pulled their weapons, NYPD Assistant Chief Melissa Eger, the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Staten Island, said at a press conference after the fatal shooting.
—Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2025
Quornelius Radford, had once been arrested by local authorities on suspicion of drunken driving — but his commanding officers had not known about that incident, officials said.
—Nbc News, NBC news, 6 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for commanding officer
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commanding officer
Noun
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Former People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning, also named in the statement, was removed from the national legislature last month, along with three other PLA generals.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
18 Oct. 2025
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The defense secretary and president also summoned hundreds of military commanders and leaders to Virginia at the end of September to discuss the direction of America's fighting force, including a directive for all members of the military to achieve certain levels of physical fitness.—
Peter Aitken,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The story behind how Rudolph morphed into history’s most prolific killer during his tenure as commandant of Nazi Germany’s most notorious camp is still something of a mystery to his grandson.—
Johnny Dodd,
PEOPLE,
11 Oct. 2025
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In all, Camp Pendleton has 13,602 rooms, but only 11,692 were usable and only 2,393 met the commandant’s new standards, officials said.—
Erika I. Ritchie,
Oc Register,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Commanding officer.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commanding%20officer. Accessed 20 Oct. 2025.
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