Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use colonel in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Colonel means a commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines). Example: “The general ordered the colonel to hold his position at all costs.”

Examples of colonel by meaning

nounA military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.

  • General Charles-Maximilian Fiennes was made colonel of the army.2009, Ranulph Fiennes, chapter 21, in Mad Dogs and Englishmen: An Expedition Round My Family, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 284

nounAn honorary civilian title bestowed by some southern US states, most commonly Kentucky; notably Colonel Sanders of KFC.

  • "Colonel" was often used as an honorific, indicating no actual military service: between 1792 and 1916, according to Ron Bryant, a curator at the Kentucky Historical Society, 400 of the 650 colonels commissioned were honorary.2002, Kate Chopin and Anna Julia Cooper, “Critiquing Kentucky and the South”, in The Southern Literary Journal, volume 35, number 1, page...

More sentences with colonel

  • The general ordered the colonel to hold his position at all costs.From the entry hold
  • Colonel Easterwood, late of the 34th Carbines, was a guest at the dinner party.From the entry late
  • The soldiers snapped to attention as the colonel entered the room.From the entry snap
  • In various armies, major is the lowest field grade, full colonel the highest field grade.From the entry field grade
  • "Colonel, the Rebs are making it so hot out yonder, I can't hold my ‘posish’."From the entry posish
  • In the military, a private underranks a colonel.From the entry underrank
  • Embarrassingly, I underranked the colonel by addressing him as "private".From the entry underrank
  • Colonel George Rice Trevor testified that the Rebeccas attacked poor-houses as well as tollgates.2019, Marsha R. Robinson, Disobedient Histories in Ancient and Modern Times, page 82. From the entry Rebecca
  • Hitler’s werewolves, the colonel called them, and they saluted with their heils and expected victory.2013, Carrie Vaughn, “Unternehmen Werwolf”, in Paula Guran, editor, Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre, Prime Books, →ISBN, page 90. From the entry heil
  • Usually, on such visits, the colonel made much of the dog.2012, Albert Payson Terhune, Bruce, page 119. From the entry make much
  • The colonel was only a one-glass drinker but the girls had developed quite a thirst.2011, Bill King, King of the Outback: Tales from an Off-Road Adventurer, page 52. From the entry Chateau Cardboard
  • Colonel Sun translates for Minister Yao and relays the minister’s reply.2010, John A. Harper, “Taiwan”, in Mobilize!: Reassembling Forces with the World in Chaos (Fiction), AuthorHouse, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC…. From the entry Kaosiung
  • Colonel, since you asked me, our Arab friends are still plenty beaked off at us.1997, Frank Simon, Veiled Threats, page 94. From the entry beaked off
  • Colonel Stevens never returned from that flight; his plane was shot down by a Japanese Zero.1971, Lyndon Johnson, “The New Age of Regionalism”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 361. From the entry zero
  • Retired Army colonel Essex Moorcroft is going to war against the 50-penny piece.1969 October 23, “‘Give the new 10s Coin a Chance’ Call”, in Daily Mirror, London: Daily Mirror Newspapers, →OCLC, page 32, columns 3–4. From the entry Essex
  • Colonel Hazeltine still had trouble persuading air commanders to drop the nickels.1945, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 217, Curtis Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 79. From the entry nickel
  • Colonel CJ Martin gives some observations on " barcoo rot." This is a very loosely applied term.1917, letter, British Medical Journal, volume 1917, page 468. From the entry Barcoo rot
  • He told me to head back to the colonel.2021, Roy Paul Shields, Out of Darkness (The Freedom Villagers), Dorrance Publishing, →ISBN, page 80. From the entry iPad
  • The major and colonel played “good cop-bad cop” with him for about ninety minutes, but couldn’t break him down.2017, John A. Sarconi, In Pursuit of Dreams, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 92. From the entry good cop-bad cop
  • That means you'll be at least a full eagle colonel.” Reynolds frowned, obviously trying to think of a response.2011 September 9, Jack Campbell, Stark's Crusade, Titan Books, →ISBN. From the entry full eagle colonel
  • But the colonel had quickly taught him that kind of attitude would not be acceptable by simply wearing him out.2009, Joshua Chase, Galactic Conquest, page 146. From the entry backtalker
  • Colonel Wilson was a good Marine officer.1993, W. E. B. Griffin [pseudonym; William Edmund Butterworth III], chapter V, in Close Combat (The Corps; VI), New York, N.Y.: G. P.…. From the entry aye, aye, sir
  • Hilton rents her own bedroom to a retired colonel.1992, Sylvia Whitman, V Is for Victory: The American Home Front During World War II. From the entry communism
  • A woman whose daughter is married to a colonel, for instance, may ask “Has the keofverstinna (the coloneless) been here today?”1969, Jennie A. McConnell, transl., Finnish Letters, Philadelphia, Pa.: Dorrance & Company, →LCCN, page 55. From the entry coloneless
  • Colonel Cathcart bewailed the miserable fate that had given him for an invaluable assistant someone as common as Colonel Korn.1961, Joseph Heller, Catch-22, page 181. From the entry invaluable
  • There was no furniture left except a folding table and a Roorkee chair, in which the colonel sat.1956, John Masters, The Lotus and the Wind, page 63. From the entry folding table
  • The colonel was helping the general train his troops.1952 June, Kai-yu Hsu, “Behind Red China's Human Sea Tactics”, in United States Army Combat Forces Journal, volume 2, number 11, →OCLC…. From the entry Wenshan
  • Having made sure everything is shipshape, the colonel goes back to the controls and starts to bring the plane down.1950 July, “Night Flight”, in Jim Douglas, editor, Boeing Magazine, volume XX, number 7, Seattle, Wash.: Public Relations Division, Boeing…. From the entry shipshape
  • Colonel Elbridge Colby in Army Talk tells us that the shelter-half, or “pup tent” made its debut during the Civil War.1947 July, J.F.L., “Tenting Tonight”, in Infantry Journal, page 37. From the entry pup tent
  • Colonel KNOX is not merely the symbol of the Flag.1936 June 27, “Symbols”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC. From the entry Roosian
  • What rancors the colonel is that Mr.1924 September 7, “Ghost Scares Harvey”, in The Atlanta Constitution, volume LVII, number 88, Atlanta, Ga.. From the entry unafraidly
  • Gabbard, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who served in Iraq, has been a longtime critic of the foreign policy establishment.2024 November 13, Julian E. Barnes, “Trump Chooses Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence”, in The New York Times. From the entry gabbard
  • It went all the way up to a colonel circling somewhere overhead in a C&C Huey, who got red-assed all over again.2010, John L. Parker, Again to Carthage, page 29. From the entry red-assed
  • The good colonel elaborated, pointing out his favorites; the mini chocolate pancakes with vodka–cherry sauce, Ukrainian honey cakes and prianiki honey biscuits.2009 August 12, Jeffrey Wood, Lyft Faetels: Inner Peace (Lyft Faetels Trilogy; II), Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 48. From the entry prianik
  • He said he only wanted one thing — if I'd chuck Gursey out again, in case he went whiddling to the colonel.2003, Brian Penton, The Inheritors, page 475. From the entry whiddle
  • It saved the colonel, but the indignant gente threw beerbottles and cushions and everything they could lay hands on, shrieking with rage.1966, Southwest Review, volumes 51–52, page 165. From the entry beerbottle
  • Then there are also three professors, four lieutenants, one captain, one major, three lieutenant commanders, two lieutenant colonels, six commanders, two colonels and two Mrses.1957 December, Richard W. Willard, Robert S. Gooch, “[Class Notes] 1951”, in Technology Review, volume LX, number 2, page xxxiii, column 3. From the entry Mrses.
  • Colonel Paul Malone of the U.S.1955, John Sack, From Here to Shimbashi - Volume 637, page 172. From the entry ho

Meaning of colonel

  1. noun A commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).
  2. noun A military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.
  3. noun An honorary civilian title bestowed by some southern US states, most commonly Kentucky; notably Colonel Sanders of KFC.

Full definition of colonel

Questions about colonel in a sentence

How do you use colonel in a sentence?
Colonel is used as a noun and verb. For example: “The general ordered the colonel to hold his position at all costs.”
What is a short sentence with colonel?
“Colonel Paul Malone of the U.S.”
What does colonel mean?
Colonel means a commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: colonel (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use colonel in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/colonel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.