commanding

English

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: com‧mand‧ing

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; very good and impressive.

   a commanding structure

   a man with a commanding presence

   • 2023 January 18, Javier C. Hernández, “A Conductor on a Mission to Help Ukraine”, in The New York Times‎:

     Her colleagues say that [Dalia] Stasevska is eager to challenge the status quo both in the artistic realm and in life. Claire Chase, a prominent flutist and educator, described her as a “supernova,” praising her collaborative and commanding style.

   • 2023 March 23, David Allen, “‘It Needs You’: The Human Side to Boulez’s Demanding Music”, in The New York Times‎:

     Pierre Boulez, one of the most commanding musicians of the past century, must have been asked countless times, before his death in 2016, what he thought his legacy might be.

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.

Verb

commanding

1. present participle and gerund of command

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• commanding general
• commanding heights
• commandingly
• commandingness
• commanding officer
• uncommanding

Translations

tending to give commands

Bulgarian: командорещ (komandorešt) (slang) Hebrew: פוקד, שולט

impressively dominant

Bulgarian: доминиращ (bg) (dominirašt), внушителен (bg) (vnušitelen) 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.