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commission

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A body or group of people, officially tasked with carrying out a particular function.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhmishuhn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kəˈmɪʃən

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. A body or group of people, officially tasked with carrying out a particular function.

  2. A fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction.

  3. An official charge or authority to do something, often used of military officers.

  4. The thing to be done as agent for another.

  5. A sending or mission (to do or accomplish something).

  6. The act of granting authority to undertake certain functions

verb

  1. Charge with a task

  2. transitive

    To send or officially charge someone or some group to do something.

  3. transitive

    To place an order for (often a piece of art).

  4. transitive

    To put (a ship or boat, etc.) into active service.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner (estimated)
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A fee charged by an agent or broker for carrying out a transaction.

Used this way, commission is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately 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.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Fee

high commissioncommerce commission

Good

energy commission

Other combinations

planning commissiontrade commissionservice commissionnational commissionexchange commission

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • commissionernounInflected form

    A government administrator.

  • commissionedadjectiveInflected form

    Holding by virtue of a commission a rank of second lieutenant or ensign or above.

  • commissioningnounInflected form

    The act of granting authority to undertake certain functions.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • commission plannounCompound term

    A municipal government that combines legislative and executive authority in the members of a commission.

  • commission on narcotic drugsnounCompound term

    The commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that is concerned with drug traffic.

  • commission on the status of womennounCompound term

    The commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that is concerned with the status of women in different societies.

  • commissioned naval officernounCompound term

    A commissioned officer in the navy.

  • commissioned officernounCompound term

    A military officer holding a commission.

  • commission on human rightsnounCompound term

    The commission of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that is concerned with human rights.

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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.