second lieutenant
6
6.0
- noun
- /ˈsɛkənd luˈtɛnənt/
:
teniente segundo
- Almost immediately, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army and served a 13-month tour in Korea after the Pueblo Incident.
- served as a second lieutenant
Examples
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Patrick Knapp is a second lieutenant in the Minnesota Army National Guard.
Academic text (2010) -
How many second lieutenants are there?
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My brother was a second lieutenant.
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Uh, my brother's a second lieutenant.
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Most of the second lieutenants were 22 or 23 and new to the service.
Academic text (1995) -
J. R. White enlisted as a private in the 7th Texas Infantry during the Civil War and ended his military career as a second lieutenant.
Academic text (2009) -
A second lieutenant saw what I was doing, threw me a look of scorn and contempt, and led the marines in.
Fiction book (1994) -
Harry was commissioned in April 2006 as a second lieutenant in the Household Cavalry Blues and Royals.
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In 1937, Ronald Reagan enlisted as a reservist in the Army and soon earned a commission as a second lieutenant.
Blog text (27) -
After his university studies, John became a second lieutenant in the Army.
Synonyms
382
8.2
A junior officer in the navy or coast guard who holds the lowest officer rank
1
9.9
A junior army officer below captain, often in the infantry
1
9.6
A junior officer in the navy or other military force who ranks below a lieutenant
A junior officer with the lowest rank in the Army, Air Force, or Marines
A young officer with the lowest rank in the U.S. military
How High-Ranking
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the ordinal 'second' (indicating rank after first) with 'lieutenant' (a military officer), so its meaning—a lieutenant who holds the second/lowest commissioned rank—is directly inferable from the parts. The ordinal+rank naming pattern is cross-linguistically common, making this readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Second lieutenant: The name lieutenant originally meant someone who 'holds the place' of a commander. A second lieutenant was the second or younger officer to fill that helper role, so today the term means the lowest-ranking officer who acts as an 'assistant'.