commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er kə-ˈmi-sh(ə-)nər 

: a person with a commission: such as

a

: a member of a commission

b

: the representative of the governmental authority in a district, province, or other unit often having both judicial and administrative powers

c

: the officer in charge of a department or bureau of the public service

d

: the administrative head of a professional sport

commissionership

kə-ˈmi-sh(ə-)nər-ˌship 

noun

Examples of commissioner in a Sentence

The baseball commissioner decided to suspend the players for 10 games.

Recent Examples on the Web

The same weekend, King resigned and Dudek, who was at home in his underwear watching MSNBC, got an email stating that the president of the United States had appointed him commissioner. —Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025

In early 2023, the governor replaced much of the school’s board of trustees with political allies and helped install Corcoran, a former House speaker and education commissioner, as president. —Alice Herman, Miami Herald, 6 Sep. 2025

Town officials learned of the upcoming closure earlier on the day of the Town Board meeting, Rase told the commissioners. —Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 6 Sep. 2025

The Google adtech decision was initially set to be unveiled on Monday, but EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič urged a pause over concerns that the announcement could scuttle ongoing trade discussions with the US government. —Ryan Whitwam, ArsTechnica, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, "person empowered to carry out defined duties," borrowed from Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin commissiōnārius, from commissiōn-, commissiō commission entry 1 + Latin -ārius -ary entry 1

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing commissioner

• high commissioner
• resident commissioner

Rhymes for commissioner

• conditioner
• parishioner
• petitioner
• positioner
• practitioner
• missioner

Kids Definition

commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er kə-ˈmish-(ə-)nər 

1

: a member of a commission

2

: an official in charge of a government department

Police Commissioner

Legal Definition

commissioner

noun

com·​mis·​sion·​er

: a person with a commission: as

a

: a member of a commission

b

often capitalized : the officer in charge of a government agency

a police commissioner