verb (used with object)
- to direct with specific authority or prerogative; order: The captain commanded his men to attack.
- to require authoritatively; demand: She commanded silence.
- to have or exercise authority or control over; be master of; have at one’s bidding or disposal: The Pharaoh commanded 10,000 slaves.
- to deserve and receive (respect, sympathy, attention, etc.): He commands much respect for his attitude.
- to dominate by reason of location; overlook: The hill commands the sea.
- to have authority over and responsibility for (a military or naval unit or installation); be in charge of.
verb (used without object)
- to issue an order or orders.
- to be in charge; have authority.
- to occupy a dominating position; look down upon or over a body of water, region, etc.
noun
- the act of commanding or ordering.
- an order given by one in authority: The colonel gave the command to attack.
- Military.
- an order in prescribed words, usually given in a loud voice to troops at close-order drill: The command was “Right shoulder arms!”
- the order of execution or the second part of any two-part close-order drill command, as face in Right face!
- (initial capital letter)a principal component of the U.S. Air Force: Strategic Air Command.
- a body of troops or a station, ship, etc., under a commander.
- the possession or exercise of controlling authority: a lieutenant in command of a platoon.
- expertise; mastery: He has a command of French, Russian, and German.
- British. a royal order.
- power of dominating a region by reason of location; extent of view or outlook: the command of the valley from the hill.
- Computers.
- an electric impulse, signal, or set of signals for initiating an operation in a computer.
- a character, symbol, or item of information for instructing a computer to perform a specific task.
- a single instruction.
adjective
- of, relating to, or for use in the exercise of command: a command car; command post.
- of or relating to a commander: a command decision.
- ordered by a sovereign, as if by a sovereign, or by the exigencies of a situation: a command performance.
verb
- (when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to order, require, or compel
- to have or be in control or authority over (a person, situation, etc)
- (tr) to have knowledge or use ofhe commands the language
- (tr) to receive as due or because of merithis nature commands respect
- to dominate (a view, etc) as from a height
noun
- an order; mandate
- the act of commanding
- the power or right to command
- the exercise of the power to command
- ability or knowledge; controla command of French
- mainly military the jurisdiction of a commander
- a military unit or units commanding a specific area or function, as in the RAF
- British
- an invitation from the monarch
- (as modifier)a command performance
- computing a word or phrase that can be selected from a menu or typed after a prompt in order to carry out an action
noun
- any of the three main branches of the Canadian military forcesAir Command
v.c.1300, from Old French comander “to order, enjoin, entrust” (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare “to recommend, entrust to” (see commend), altered by influence of Latin mandare “to commit, entrust” (see mandate (n.)). Replaced Old English bebeodan. Related: Commanded; commanding. n.c.1400, “order, command,” from Old French comand (14c.), from comander (see command (v.)). Meaning “control, authority” is from mid-15c. In addition to the idiom beginning with command
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