Commando

//kəˈmændoʊ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small fighting force specially trained for making quick destructive raids against enemy-held areas.

    "The most important objective was at Batna itself, where a group of three commandos each comprising ten men was to attack Deleplanque's sub-prefecture […]."

  2. 2
    an amphibious military unit trained for raids into enemy territory wordnet
  3. 3
    A commando trooper.

    "Ben Grant, 30, who spent more than five years as a commando in the Royal Marines, is part of group of seven ex-servicemen who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend to fight invading Russian forces."

  4. 4
    a member of a military unit trained as shock troops for hit-and-run raids wordnet
  5. 5
    An organized force of Boer troops in South Africa; a raid by such troops. historical

Synonyms

All synonyms
commandomanranger

Example

More examples

"It's called commando when you don't wear underwear beneath your pants."

Etymology

From Afrikaans kommando, from Portuguese comando (“command”), from Late Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare.

Related phrases

commando clothgo commandosteak commandosouth africa

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.