Commandeer
//kɒmənˈdɪə(ɹ)// verb
verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To seize for military use. transitive
- 2 take arbitrarily or by force wordnet
- 3 To force into military service. transitive
- 4 To take arbitrarily or by force. transitive
- 5 To take or use for some purpose (not necessarily arbitrarily or by force). broadly, transitive
""We're stuck taking the bus to school tomorrow, aren't we?" "...Yeah. Moperville South doesn't give bus service out here, so Ellen's commandeering my car.""
Example
More examples"The viruses commandeer the internal machinery of their hosts."
Etymology
Late 19th century. From Dutch commanderen (“to command”), partially through its descendant, Afrikaans kommandeer (“to command”). Ultimately from French commander, from Old French comander, from Latin commendare. Doublet of command.
Related phrases
More for "commandeer"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.