Pronunciation: (ku-mand', -mänd'), [key]
1. to direct with specific authority or prerogative; order: The captain commanded his men to attack.
2. to require authoritatively; demand: She commanded silence.
3. to have or exercise authority or control over; be master of; have at one's bidding or disposal: The Pharaoh commanded 10,000 slaves.
4. to deserve and receive (respect, sympathy, attention, etc.): He commands much respect for his attitude.
5. to dominate by reason of location; overlook: The hill commands the sea.
6. to have authority over and responsibility for (a military or naval unit or installation); be in charge of.
1. to issue an order or orders.
2. to be in charge; have authority.
3. to occupy a dominating position; look down upon or over a body of water, region, etc.
1. the act of commanding or ordering.
2. an order given by one in authority: The colonel gave the command to attack.
a. an order in prescribed words, usually given in a loud voice to troops at close-order drill: The command was “Right shoulder arms!”
b. the order of execution or the second part of any two-part close-order drill command, as face in Right face!
c. (cap.) a principal component of the U.S. Air Force: Strategic Air Command.
d. a body of troops or a station, ship, etc., under a commander.
4. the possession or exercise of controlling authority: a lieutenant in command of a platoon.
5. expertise; mastery: He has a command of French, Russian, and German.
6. Brit.a royal order.
7. power of dominating a region by reason of location; extent of view or outlook: the command of the valley from the hill.
a. an electric impulse, signal, or set of signals for initiating an operation in a computer.
b. a character, symbol, or item of information for instructing a computer to perform a specific task.
c. a single instruction.
1. of, pertaining to, or for use in the exercise of command: a command car; command post.
2. of or pertaining to a commander: a command decision.
3. ordered by a sovereign, as if by a sovereign, or by the exigencies of a situation: a command performance.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.