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Glite Dictionary
supply officer

supply officer

1 4.1
A military officer who organizes and gives food, equipment, and fuel to troops
  • noun
  • /səˈplaɪ ˈɔfɪsər/
translation icon : oficial de suministros
  • "The Expedition's supply officer: the person who preserved so many artifacts in the Catherine Caves."
  • Navy supply officer

Examples

  • I gave the supply officer a Luger for it.

    The Big Red One (1980)

  • The supply officer for the field hospital where I had worked, Captain Manson, suffered shortages, missed deliveries, and the endless idiocies of the army bureaucracy as his own personal slings and arrows.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • As a supply officer, I ensured that troops received all the necessary equipment and provisions during the mission.

  • After joining the military, I was trained to be a supply officer, focusing on logistics for troop support.

  • The supply officer coordinated the delivery of rations and medical supplies to the front lines.

Synonyms

quartermaster
vssupply officer
  • Specialized
9 7.7

An army officer who supplies food, equipment and uniforms to soldiers

is a commissioned role covering wider logistics equipment provisions and materials
provisioner
vssupply officer
1 7.9

A person or company that supplies food and goods to a large group, often an army

is a commissioned military role not a civilian person or organization

How Senior

quartermaster
  • Specialized
9 7.7
supply officer
1 4.1
clerk
  • US
110 1.1

Surface Forms

supply officer singular
supply officers plural

Morphology

supply + officer

The noun–noun combination is directly compositional: 'supply' (provisioning of goods) modifies 'officer' (military person), so a learner who knows both words can infer an officer responsible for supplies/logistics. This modifier pattern is common in English and many languages, making the occupational meaning predictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The compound noun supply officer comes from the simple scene of an officer standing by boxes and crates, handing out food, fuel, and equipment. Because the officer is 'in charge' of the supply, the phrase means the military person who makes sure soldiers get what they need.