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Glite Dictionary
Navy Department

Navy Department

1 5.9
A part of the United States government that managed the Navy until 1947
  • proper noun
  • Formal
translation icon : Departamento de la Marina
  • In 1971, Nixon ordered the Navy Department to give up 5.5 miles of Camp Pendleton beach for public recreation.

Examples

  • The photos are not dated, but they are stamped as belonging to the 14th Naval District, Office of Public Relations, Navy Department.

    Blog text (9)

  • He retired from the Navy Department in 1970 after 41 years of federal service.

  • Mr. Brooks, a certified public accountant, worked for an accounting firm and the Navy Department before joining NASA.

Synonyms

admiralty
vsNavy Department
  • UK
3 9.1

Government department that leads and manages a country's navy

is a former US executive department for naval affairs merged into defense in 1947

Surface Forms

Navy Department main

Morphology

navy + department

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'navy' (sea military) + 'department' (organizational unit) yields an organizational unit responsible for naval affairs. While it is a proper name for a specific historical U.S. agency, the compositional logic is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand the basic meaning.

Etymology

Navy Department is a simple name: Navy (the country's ships and sailors) and Department (a government office). It was the government office that 'ran' the U.S. Navy, so the name refers to that former government body before 1947.