captain
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A person in charge of a ship or an army officer rank
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kaptuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæptən
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The person lawfully in command of a ship or other vessel.
The naval officer in command of a military ship
An officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
“The army captain reported to a major and supervised two lieutenants.”
An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major.
A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to a United States Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel.
One of the athletes on a sports team who is designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official.
verb
transitive
To exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team.
Be the captain of a sports team
intransitive
To act as captain
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
Used this way, captain is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“The army captain reported to a major and supervised two lieutenants.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use captain
- “The captain safely guided the ship through the rough, stormy seas.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The cardinal number that is the sum of five and one.
A fictional English admiral during the Napoleonic Wars in novels written by C. S. Forester.
The captain of a flagship.
A commissioned officer (especially one in the Royal Air Force) equivalent in rank to a colonel in the army.
A policeman in charge of a precinct.
The supervisor of bellboys in a hotel.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
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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.