as in commanders
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 officers
No commanding officers or the commissioner were ever told about the claim letters, the summary says.
—
ABC News, 21 Apr. 2026
Parker stars as one of Cameron’s commanding officers, drill sergeant Sullivan.
—Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 28 Oct. 2025
Cameron also develops a close but complicated mentorship with one of his commanding officers, Sergeant Liam Robert Sullivan (Max Parker), a deputy drill instructor, who also hasn't revealed his sexuality.
—Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 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
ABC News, 21 Apr. 2026
Parker stars as one of Cameron’s commanding officers, drill sergeant Sullivan.
—Nicole Fell, HollywoodReporter, 28 Oct. 2025
Cameron also develops a close but complicated mentorship with one of his commanding officers, Sergeant Liam Robert Sullivan (Max Parker), a deputy drill instructor, who also hasn't revealed his sexuality.
—Christopher Rudolph, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for commanding officers
commanders
Noun
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Such an agreement would require battling — and even dismantling — an entrenched and incompetent bureaucracy to speed up economic reforms, and getting rid of old-school historic commanders and everyone else in the government, the Communist Party and the top military echelons standing in the way.—
Nora Gámez Torres,
Miami Herald,
23 Apr. 2026
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The previous round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, in 2023–24, devastated the militia, destroyed much of its missile and drone arsenal, and killed most of its senior battlefield commanders and political leaders.—
Hussein Ibish,
The Atlantic,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Commanding officers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/commanding%20officers. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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