command

English Online Dictionary. What means command‎? What does command mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander, from Late Latin commandāre, from Latin commendāre. Ultimately from Latin com- + mandō (whence ultimately also commend (a doublet), mandate, and recommend), from manus + -dō.

Compare typologically Russian поручи́ть (poručítʹ), поруче́ние (poručénije), руководи́ть (rukovodítʹ), руководи́тель (rukovodítelʹ) related to рука́ (ruká).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɑːnd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈmænd/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɑːnd, (General American) -ænd
• Hyphenation: com‧mand

Noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

1. An order to do something.

2. The right or authority to order, control or dispose of; the right to be obeyed or to compel obedience.

   to have command of an army
3. power of control, direction or disposal; mastery.

   he had command of the situation

   England has long held command of the sea

   a good command of language
4. A position of chief authority; a position involving the right or power to order or control.

5. The act of commanding; exercise or authority of influence.
6. (military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.
7. Dominating situation; range or control or oversight; extent of view or outlook.
8. (computing) A directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task.
9. (baseball) The degree of control a pitcher has over his pitches.

10. A command performance.
    • 1809, Dorothy Jordan, letter, cited in Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan's Profession, Penguin 2012, p. 220:

      Atkinson […] had hinted to me that the Duke of Richmond was so delighted with my acting that he should not be surprised if there was a second command.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• imperative mood

References

• Command on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

command (third-person singular simple present commands, present participle commanding, simple past and past participle commanded)

1. (ambitransitive) To order, give orders; to compel or direct with authority.

   Coordinate term: countermand
2. (ambitransitive) To have or exercise supreme power, control or authority over, especially military; to have under direction or control.

   to command an army or a ship
3. (transitive) To require with authority; to demand, order, enjoin.

   he commanded silence
4. (transitive) to dominate through ability, resources, position etc.; to overlook.

   Bridges commanded by a fortified house. (Motley.)

   This observation deck commands a breathtaking view of San Francisco Bay.

5. (transitive) To exact, compel or secure by influence; to deserve, claim.
6. (transitive) To hold, to control the use of.

   The fort commanded the bay.

   • December 1699, Joseph Addison, letter to William Congreve

     One [side] commands a view of the finest garden.
7. (ambitransitive, archaic) To have a view (of), as from a superior position.
8. (obsolete) To direct to come; to bestow.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (give an order): decree, order, enjoin

Derived terms

Translations

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “command”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “command”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.