lieutenant
/lɛfˈtɛn.ənt//l(j)uˈtɛn.ənt/
lieutenant noun: in the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks.
Noun (1)
lieutenant (plural lieutenants)
- In the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks.
- A naval officer whose rank is above that of ensign in the United States Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant.
- A commissioned officer in the United States Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration whose rank is above that of ensign and below lieutenant commander. There are two ranks of lieutenant: lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant.
- A commissioned officer in the British Army and Royal Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant"; however, "second lieutenant" is to specify that the officer is not yet a full lieutenant.
- A naval officer whose rank is above that of sub-lieutenant in the Royal Navy and below that of a lieutenant commander.
- A naval commissioned officer who holds the rank above sub-lieutenant and below lieutenant commander.
- A person who manages or executes the plans and directives of another, more senior person; a manager to their director.
- Mr. Scott immediately asked someone at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash., to get Mr. Nadella, the chief executive, out of a meeting he was having with top lieutenants.2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- The second-in-command (2IC) of a group.
Adjective
lieutenant (not comparable)
- A military grade that is junior to the grade the adjective modifies: lieutenant colonel, lieutenant general, lieutenant commander.
Noun (2) capitalized: Lieutenant
Lieutenant (plural Lieutenants)
- Alternative letter-case form of lieutenant (when used as a title before a name)
lieutenant meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Malay and Indonesian
lieutenant in Hindi
- lowest commissioned officer rank
- लेफ़्टिनेंट lefṭineṇṭ
lieutenant in Arabic
- lowest commissioned officer rank
- مُلَازِم mulāzim
lieutenant in Malay
- lowest commissioned officer rank
- leftenan
lieutenant in Indonesian
- lowest commissioned officer rank
- letnan
- military grade
- letnan
More languagesFewer languages
- lieutenant in Persian
- ستوان sotvân
- lieutenant in Thai
- นายร้อย, เรือโท rʉʉa-too
- lieutenant in Vietnamese
- trung úy
- lieutenant in Myanmar
- ဗိုလ် buil
Examples of lieutenant in a sentence
- His lieutenants hired a team of miners to help spring him.
- The prosecutor offered the lieutenant immunity for all the crimes he would testify having known to be planned by the elusive drug baron.
- Zuckerberg’s repositioning of Meta started in earnest last year, when he began rearranging his bench of lieutenants.
Synonyms of lieutenant
Forms of lieutenant
| plural | lieutenants |
|---|---|
| plural | Lieutenants |
| alternative form (obsolete) | leftenant |
| alternative form (obsolete) | leftenaunt |
| alternative form (obsolete) | lieftenant |
| alternative form (obsolete) | lieftenaunt |
| alternative form (obsolete) | lieutenaunt |
| alternative form (obsolete) | lieuftenant |
| alternative form (obsolete) | lievftenant |
Origin of lieutenant
From Middle English lieutenant, lieftenaunt, from Anglo-Norman lieutenant, lyutenaunt, leu tenant, leu tenaunt (“deputy, lieutenant”), from Old French lieu (“place”) + tenant (“holder”). Doublet of locum tenens and stadtholder.
Words formed from lieutenant
- brevet lieutenant
- captain-lieutenant
- captain lieutenant
- corvette lieutenant
- desk lieutenant
- fifth lieutenant
- first lieutenant
- flag lieutenant
- flight lieutenant
- fourth lieutenant
- frigate lieutenant
- junior lieutenant
- lieutenant admiral
- lieutenant-admiral
- lieutenant captain
- lieutenant-colonel
- lieutenant colonel
- lieutenant-colonelcy
- lieutenant commander
- lieutenantess
- lieutenant general
- lieutenant governor
- lieutenant-governor
- lieutenant junior grade
- lieutenant marshal
- lieutenantry
- lieutenant senior grade
- lieutenantship
- police lieutenant
- second lieutenant
- senior lieutenant
- shift lieutenant
- ship of the line lieutenant
- staff lieutenant
- sublieutenant
- third lieutenant
- underlieutenant
Phrases with lieutenant
Words that rhyme with lieutenant
Questions about lieutenant
- What does lieutenant mean?
- Lieutenant means in the US Army, Air Force and Marines, holding the rank above second lieutenant and below captain. Both ranks may be referred to as "lieutenant" or as the complete forms of the ranks.
- What is lieutenant in Hindi?
- Lieutenant in Hindi is लेफ़्टिनेंट (lefṭineṇṭ). See Lieutenant meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is lieutenant?
- Lieutenant can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce lieutenant?
- Lieutenant is pronounced /lɛfˈtɛn.ənt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of lieutenant?
- The plural of lieutenant is lieutenants.
Words near lieutenant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lieutenant (page history and authors); Lieutenant (page history and authors). 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-uk-lieutenant.ogg, en-au-lieutenant.ogg, en-us-lieutenant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “lieutenant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lieutenant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.