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admiral

noun

Simple meaning

The appointed commander of a navy, regardless of formal title.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

admeruhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈædmɚəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. militarynow informal

    The supreme commander of a fleet; ranks above a vice admiral and below a fleet admiral

  2. militarynow informal

    The commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.

  3. military

    A high rank in the British and American Navies, NATO grade OF-9, equivalent ranks in other navies, in coast guards, etc.

  4. The commander of a fishing or merchant fleet, particularly (historical, Canada) a captain granted special privileges in exchange for bringing the first ship of a given fishing season to certain harbors in Newfoundland.

  5. military

    The appointed commander of a navy, regardless of formal title.

  6. Any of several brightly colored butterflies

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The supreme commander of a fleet; ranks above a vice admiral and below a fleet admiral

Used this way, admiral is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Casual
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Playful
Usage feel
Casual and conversational

Where it naturally appears

  • Military
  • Historical writing
  • News/reporting

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Supreme / commander

vice admiral

High

high admiralbritish admiral

Other combinations

rear admiraladmiral sirlord admiralenglish admiraladmiral king

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • admirernounPerson or profession

    A person who backs a politician or a team etc.

  • admirationnounDerived noun

    A feeling of delighted approval and liking.

  • admirablyadverbDerived adverb

    In an admirable manner.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • admiral deweynounCompound term

    A United States naval officer remembered for his victory at Manila Bay in the Spanish-American War.

  • five-star admiralnounCompound term

    An admiral of the highest rank.

  • fleet admiralnounCompound term

    An admiral of the highest rank.

  • full admiralnounCompound term

    The supreme commander of a fleet.

  • rear admiralnounCompound term

    An admiral junior to a vice admiral.

  • red admiralnounCompound term

    Of temperate Europe and Asia.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.