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sergeant major

noun

  1. U.S. Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps. a noncommissioned officer serving as chief administrative assistant in a unit headquarters.
  2. U.S. Marine Corps. a noncommissioned officer ranking above a first sergeant.
  3. a small damselfish, Abudefduf saxatilis, inhabiting warm Atlantic waters, having vertical black stripes on each side.


sergeant major

noun

  1. a noncommissioned officer of the highest rank or having specific administrative tasks in branches of the armed forces of various countries
  2. a large damselfish, Abudefduf saxatilis, having a bluish-grey body marked with black stripes


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Word History and Origins

Origin of sergeant major1

First recorded in 1565–75

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Example Sentences

The Duke of Cambridge made the comment to a former regimental sergeant major, Ray Collister, 56, after the formalities.

I do recall one time, though, when a burly, red-faced command sergeant major became very hands-on.

He is Command Sergeant Major to the Special Operations Command and, thus, the top enlisted adviser to Admiral William McRaven.

“Now I see a rainbow of hope from a place of darkness,” Sergeant Major Robert Haemmerle told the crowd.

Sergeant Major Mike Booley, 46, said that a string of promises were broken over his career.

A number were killed, among them the sergeant major—a large, powerful man.

He, too, was a sergeant-major of a line regiment in the old army.

As for the revolver, I got into trouble with the Sergeant-Major this night for parading for picket without it.

By this time the sergeant-major too was at his wits' end as he looked round his spotless lines.

Formerly sergeant-major in the —th regiment; now a gold-digger in California.

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