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master sergeant
noun
: a noncommissioned officer ranking in the army above a sergeant first class and below a staff sergeant major, in the air force above a technical sergeant and below a senior master sergeant, and in the marine corps above a gunnery sergeant and below a master gunnery sergeant
Examples of master sergeant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Or, perhaps more infamously, the 1980 coup d’état in Liberia by the warlord Samuel Doe—a lowly master sergeant at the time—illustrates how relatively junior officers can take power if others rally around them.
—Brian Klaas, Foreign Affairs, 17 July 2016
His stepfather retired as a master sergeant from the same Air Force intelligence unit where Airman Teixeira worked, headquartered on a base on nearby Cape Cod.
—Haley Willis, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2023
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as John Kinley, a supremely competent master sergeant in 2018 Afghanistan tasked with finding and destroying Taliban bomb factories dotted around the country.
—Kyle Smith, wsj.com, 20 Apr. 2023
His stepfather was a master sergeant in the 102nd Intelligence Wing, the same unit Teixeira later joined.
—John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 24 Apr. 2023
In June 1965, Mr. Waugh, then a master sergeant, was nearly killed when his team was overwhelmed by North Vietnamese forces in Binh Dinh Province, along the South Vietnam coast.
—Richard Sandomir, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2023
The airman’s stepfather, Thomas Dufault, retired after a 34-year military career as a master sergeant from the same unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, in a 2019 ceremony at Joint Base Cape Cod, according to public records and photos posted online by the Defense Department.
—Dan Lamothe, Evan Hill, Alex Horton and Missy Ryan, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Apr. 2023
Teixeira's stepfather, Thomas Dufault, served for more than three decades as a master sergeant from the same unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing.
—Mike Brest, Washington Examiner, 14 Apr. 2023
Christopher Donohue, who served from 1996 to 2020, retired as a master sergeant, an Army spokesman said.
—Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 22 Mar. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'master sergeant.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1920, in the meaning defined above
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Cite this Entry
“Master sergeant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/master%20sergeant. Accessed 30 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
master sergeant
noun
: a military noncommissioned officer with the rank just below that of sergeant major in the army, below that of master gunnery sergeant in the marines, and below that of senior master sergeant in the air force
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