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Glite Dictionary
naval attache

naval attache

8.1
A navy officer at an embassy who represents their country to the host navy
  • noun
  • /ˈneɪvəl ˌæˈtæʃeɪ/
  • Formal
translation icon : agregado naval
  • As the naval attache, he was responsible for maintaining relations with the host country.

Examples

  • I was once our naval attache in Washington.

    Midway (2019)

  • Sinclair's irritation is relieved by the Naval Attache, entering again, who hands him a phone and whispers: # NAVAL ATTACHE #

    Fiction book (1996)

  • (She never did make the State Department, but her knowledge of French and Italian and political science had helped George when he was naval attache to Dag Hammarskjold.)

    Fiction book (1991)

  • A naval attaché pokes his head in. #NAVAL ATTACHE# General, it’s him.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The naval attache from our embassy attended the international conference.

  • During his time as a naval attache, he worked closely with military leaders to strengthen alliances.

Synonyms

attache
vsnaval attache
  • Formal
1 7.9

A person who works at an embassy to handle a specific area like culture or trade

is a uniformed armed forces officer assigned as a diplomatic representative
military attache
vsnaval attache
1 7.4

A person at an embassy who advises on and represents the armed forces

is limited to officers from the sea forces rather than any armed service

How Senior

naval attache
  • Formal
8.1

Surface Forms

naval attache singular
naval attaches plural

Morphology

naval + attache

The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'naval' (relating to a country's navy) with 'attache' (a diplomat or specialist assigned to an embassy). This adjective+noun composition is a straightforward, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer it denotes a navy officer serving as a diplomatic representative.

Etymology

Naval attache comes from the French word attache, which means 'attached' and refers to someone sent to join an embassy, while naval shows the person is from the navy. So a naval attache is a navy officer who is 'attached' to an embassy as a diplomatic representative.