commodore

[ kom-uh-dawr, -dohr ]

noun
  1. Navy. a grade of flag officer next in rank below a rear admiral.

  2. British Navy. an officer in temporary command of a squadron, sometimes over a captain on the same ship.

  1. Navy. the senior captain when two or more ships of war are cruising in company.

  2. (in the U.S. Navy and Merchant Marine) the officer in command of a convoy.

  3. the senior captain of a line of merchant vessels.

  4. the president or head of a yacht club or boat club.

Origin of commodore

1
1685–95; earlier commandore, perhaps <Dutch komandeur<French commandeurcommander

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use commodore in a sentence

  • Our commodores had no small difficulty in conforming to the date of their convoy's arrival at a rendezvous.

    Merchantmen-at-Arms | David W. Bone

British Dictionary definitions for commodore

commodore

/ (ˈkɒməˌdɔː) /


noun
  1. British a naval rank junior to rear admiral and senior to captain

  2. the senior captain of a shipping line

  1. the officer in command of a convoy of merchant ships

  2. the senior flag office of a yacht or boat club

Origin of commodore

1
C17: probably from Dutch commandeur, from French, from Old French commander to command

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012