high command
9
4.8
- noun
- /haɪ kəˈmænd/
:
alto mando
- The general briefed his staff on the strategy approved by high command.
- military high command
- British high command
- army high command
And that's how the high command took my daddy from me.
- And that's how the high command took my daddy from me.
- Actually, he often disagreed with high command about priorities and how and where to attack.
Examples
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But this train is under the orders of the German high command.
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I've been consulting directly with the high command.
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It's an order from high command.
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Where is their high command?
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Sometimes I wonder how the high command makes decisions in this army.
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I'll have to put it to the high command.
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The military high command thus continues to coordinate the defense sector.
Academic text (2003) -
Don't you know this could get me into hot water with the high command?
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We've got an urgent message for high command.
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Loyalist military officers, including the entire military high command, worked with the civilian administration to defeat the coup attempt.
Academic text (2000)
Synonyms
514
3.8
Group of people who are in charge of an organization
111
3.0
The place where military leaders direct troops and give orders
11
5.7
The most important people in a company or the army who make big decisions
The main group of leaders who make top decisions for an organization, often military
How High
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'group with the highest authority' is directly compositional from 'high' (superior) + 'command' (authority/position), so the overall sense follows straightforwardly from the constituents. This noun phrase pattern is cross-linguistically common (e.g. Spanish 'alto mando', French 'haut commandement'), so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The noun high command comes from the image of officers standing on a hill or in a high place giving orders down to soldiers, with command meaning 'to order' and high showing their top position. So high command now means the group with the greatest power, the 'top leaders' in an army or organization.