lieutenant commander
6
6.9
- noun
- /luˈtɛnənt kəˈmændər/
- Specialized
:
teniente comandante
- A Naval Academy graduate, she left the reserves in 2010 as a lieutenant commander and is currently a contractor at the 711th Human Performance Wing in Dayton.
- lieutenant commander in the Navy
She was a doctor at Balboa Naval Hospital's Lieutenant Commander and I was in Camp Lejeune in Force Recon.
- She was a doctor at Balboa Naval Hospital's Lieutenant Commander and I was in Camp Lejeune in Force Recon.
Examples
-
He returned to the States as a lieutenant commander and an assistant coach for the North Carolina Pre-Flight Skybusters in Chapel Hill.
Academic text (2014) -
So, when is the Lieutenant Commander boarding?
-
Lieutenant commander block, we meet at last.
-
After serving as a lieutenant commander in the Navy during the war, he returned to the Eagles to play in 1945.
Academic text (2014) -
Since Mr. Deichmann had been a lieutenant commander in the Navy during the war, he had a flag on his coffin.
Fiction book (2000) -
She is a lieutenant commander in the United States Public Health Service and has worked for ATSDR since 1999.
Academic text (2008) -
The navy lieutenant commander at the controls received permission to land, and soon the four-engine aircraft taxied up to a long gray limousine with tinted windows.
Fiction book (1990) -
Sousa served in the Marines and eventually attained the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy, yet even after discharge, he continued to wear his military uniform while leading a civilian band in performance of military marches.
Academic text (2015) -
My father was a lieutenant commander in the Navy during the Cold War.
-
After years of service, she was promoted to lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard.
Synonyms
5
7.0
A person just below the leader in a military or similar group
How Senior
- Specialized
5
9.0
611
1.1
- Specialized
537
4.2
- Specialized
6
6.9
- US
65
6.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound clearly combines two known rank nouns, so a B1 learner who knows 'lieutenant' and 'commander' will infer it refers to a specific officer rank related to those terms. However, the exact hierarchical placement and conventional meaning (that it ranks above a lieutenant and below a commander) is a language- and institution-specific convention that is not fully predictable from the parts alone, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Lieutenant commander comes from two older words: lieutenant, a person who 'holds the place' for a higher officer, and commander, a 'leader' of a ship or unit. So this rank was for an officer who could act as a commander when needed, which is why it sits above a 'lieutenant' but below a 'commander'.