admiral
Syllables: ad·mir·alUK/ˈædməɹəl//ˈædməɹəl/
admiral noun: the commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.
Noun (1)
admiral (plural admirals)
- The commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.
- The appointed commander of a navy, regardless of formal title.
- A high rank in the British and American Navies, NATO grade OF-9, equivalent ranks in other navies, in coast guards, etc.
- ... from my experience in Ours as well as from my former intimacy with many Officers of Note in the British Navy, I am convinced that the Parity of Rank between Sea & land or Marine Officers, is of more consequence to the harmony of the Service, than hath generally been imagined. — in the British...1776 September 4, John Paul Jones, letter to Robert Morris
- He has appealed to the navies of Europe to prove, that we ought to have Admirals; then, of course he is willing, or at least ought to be so, to let their rules govern in promoting to that grade. The general principle which governs the navies of the old world is... when the Post is attained, then...1836 March 17, 'Candor', "The Navy", Army and Navy Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 11, p. 173
- 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.
- Any of several species of nymphalid butterflies of the genera Kaniska, Limenitis and Vanessa.
- The shell of the Conus ammiralis; the cone shells of various other species displaying similarly intricate banding.
- Synonym of flagship: an admiral's ship in a fleet, the command or largest ship in a naval or commercial fleet.
- Synonyms:
- flagship
- Synonym of emir, a Muslim commander or prince.
- The Saracen admiral, Balán... held court in the Castillo de Aguas Muertas...2004, Howard Mancing, The Cervantes Encyclopedia, volume I, page 373
- Synonyms:
- emir
- Any of several varieties of pear, the trees which produce them.
Noun (2) capitalized: Admiral
Admiral (plural Admirals)
- Alternative letter-case form of admiral in its various senses.
- I have the orders ready, Admiral.
- Admiral Yi was one of the greatest naval officers in history and is still a beloved Korean hero.
admiral meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
admiral in Hindi
- appointed commander of a navy
- नौसेनापति nausenāpti, एडमिरल eḍmiral, ऐडमिरल aiḍmiral, नावाधिपति nāvādhipti, जलसेनापति jalsenāpti
admiral in Marathi
- एडमिरल, अॅडमिरल
admiral in Urdu
- appointed commander of a navy
- امیر البحر amīr al-bahr, ایڈمرل aiḍmiral
- high naval rank in the British and American navies or equivalent ranks
- امیر البحر
admiral in Bengali
- অ্যাডমিরাল
More languagesFewer languages
- admiral in Telugu
- అడ్మిరల్
- admiral in Malayalam
- അഡ്മിറൽ
- admiral in Kannada
- ಅಡ್ಮಿರಲ್, ಆಡ್ಮಿರಲ್
- admiral in Punjabi
- ਐਡਮਿਰਲ, ਏਡਮਿਰਲ
- admiral in Gujarati
- એડમિરલ, એડ્મિરલ
- admiral in Odia
- ଆଡମିରାଲ, ଆଡମିରାଲ୍, ଆଡ୍ମିରାଲ୍
- admiral in Nepali
- एडमिरल, एड्मिरल
- admiral in Tagalog
- laksamana, almirante, ádmirál
- admiral in Arabic
- أَمِيرُ البَحْر ʔamīru l-baḥr, أَدْمِيرَال ʔadmīrāl
- admiral in Malay
- laksamana
- admiral in Indonesian
- laksamana
- admiral in Persian
- دریابد daryâbod, دریاسالار daryâsâlâr
- admiral in Thai
- พลเรือเอก pon-rʉʉa-èek
- admiral in Vietnamese
- đô đốc
Examples of admiral in a sentence
- The admiral will be commissioning the new destroyer in a few minutes.
- Admiral Jones is now on the inactive list.
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:admirals.
Synonyms of admiral
Forms of admiral
| plural | admirals |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Admiral |
| alternative form | Adm. |
| alternative form | Adm |
| alternative form | adml. |
| alternative form | ADM |
| alternative form | admyralle |
| alternative form | amyrall |
| alternative form | admarall |
| alternative form | admerell |
| alternative form | admerolle |
| alternative form | admirell |
| alternative form | admyrell |
| alternative form | amerall |
| alternative form | ammyrall |
| alternative form | amral |
| alternative form | amrell |
| alternative form | amrelle |
| alternative form | admirail |
| alternative form | admiralle |
Origin of admiral
From Middle English admiral etc., from Anglo-Norman and Old French admiral etc., from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus, and admiralius, from irregular modification of amiralis etc. under the influence of the prefix ad- and particularly admiror (“to admire, respect”), from Arabic أَمِير (ʔamīr, “commander”) + -alis (“-al”). The ending is frequently but mistakenly folk etymologized to derive from the article ال (al-), particularly in Arabic أَمِير اَلبَحْر (ʔamīr al-baḥr, “commander of the sea”), first attested as a Fatimid office, or in Arabic أَمِير الْمُؤْمِنِين (ʔamīr al-muʔminīn, “Commander of the Believers, caliph”). It seems instead to have been borrowed from modification of only the first term in Arabic أَمِير الْأُمَرَاء (ʔamīr al-ʔumarāʔ, “emir of emirs, commander-in-chief”) as used as a title for important commanders in Norman Sicily in the mid-12th century. First attested as an English rank in reference to Gervase Alard of Winchelsea as "admiral of the fleet of the Cinque Ports". Doublet of emir, amir, Amir, and amira.
Words formed from admiral
- admiral butterfly
- admiral cone
- admiralcy
- admiraless
- admiral-in-chief
- admiral of the blue
- admiral of the fleet
- Admiral of the Navy
- admiral of the red
- admiral of the sea
- admiral of the Swiss Navy
- admiral of the white
- admiral pear
- admiral sauce
- admiral shell
- admiral ship
- admiralship
- admiralty
- blue admiral
- brown admiral
- commodore admiral
- Dutch admiral
- fishing admiral
- fleet admiral
- full admiral
- general admiral
- grand admiral
- High Admiral
- Kentucky Admiral
- lieutenant admiral
- Lord High Admiral
- Lorquin's admiral
- port admiral
- rear admiral
- red admiral
- ride admiral
- scarlet admiral
- squadron admiral
- sub-admiral
- tap the admiral
- under-admiral
- vice admiral
- white admiral
- yellow admiral
Phrases with admiral
Questions about admiral
- What does admiral mean?
- Admiral means the commander of a naval squadron or fleet, regardless of formal rank.
- What is admiral in Hindi?
- Admiral in Hindi is नौसेनापति (nausenāpti), एडमिरल (eḍmiral), ऐडमिरल (aiḍmiral). See Admiral meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is admiral?
- Admiral is a noun.
- How do you pronounce admiral?
- Admiral is pronounced /ˈædməɹəl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of admiral?
- The plural of admiral is admirals.
Words near admiral in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: admiral (page history and authors); Admiral (page history and authors); admiral (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); admiral (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-admiral.ogg.
Cite this entry: “admiral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/admiral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.