commanding

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kəˈmændɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈmɑːndɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mand‧ing

Verb

commanding

1. present participle and gerund of command

Adjective

commanding (comparative more commanding, superlative most commanding)

1. Tending to give commands, authoritarian.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

2. Impressively dominant.

   a commanding structure

   a man with a commanding presence

3. Dominating from above, giving a wide view (of a place or position)
   • 2018, Rail, issue 857, July 18-July 31, article on Severn Bridge Junction signal box at Shrewsbury

     On the top floor is the lever frame where signalmen are afforded an uninterrupted and commanding view of the junction below, and of Shrewsbury station's five working platforms.

Synonyms

• (tending to give commands) bossy, imposing
• See also Thesaurus:bossy

Derived terms

• commanding general
• commanding heights
• commanding officer
• uncommanding

 

Translations

tending to give commands

• Bulgarian: командващ (bg) (komandvašt)
• Hebrew: פוקד, שולט

impressively dominant

• Bulgarian: доминиращ (bg) (dominirašt)
• Hebrew: חולשת מרשים
• Latin: imperiōsus
• Maori: marutuna

Noun

commanding (plural commandings)

1. The act of giving a command.
   • 2006, William E. Mann, Augustine's Confessions, page 172:

     God could then have dispelled their ignorance by revealing to them that He had issued those commands; the fact of the occurrence of the earlier commandings would be the content of the revelation.