commando

noun

com·​man·​do kə-ˈman-(ˌ)dō 

plural commandos or commandoes

1

South Africa

a

: a military unit or command of the Boers

b

: a raiding expedition

2

a

: a military unit trained and organized as shock troops especially for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory

b

: a member of such a unit

Phrases

go commando

slang : to wear no underwear

Examples of commando in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The official said there were limits to what the small teams of special forces — usually between 20 and 40 commandos — were able to achieve in terms of destroying the threat from Hezbollah and that’s why larger forces were ultimately ordered to cross the border yesterday. —NBC News, 2 Oct. 2024

Mexican commandos captured and arrested them, and from the wreckage, removed 132 industrial trash bags, weighing around 4 tons. —Penn Bullock, Rolling Stone, 25 Sep. 2024

His eight-year-old daughter, also a U.S. citizen, was killed in a U.S. commando raid several years later. —Oona A. Hathaway, Foreign Affairs, 16 July 2024

The deaths came after an earlier announcement of the first Israeli combat death in Lebanon since the start of the incursion -- a 22-year-old captain in a commando brigade. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 3 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Afrikaans kommando, from Dutch commando command, from Spanish comando, from comandar to command, from Late Latin commandare

First Known Use

1839, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

commando

noun

com·​man·​do kə-ˈman-dō 

plural commandos or commandoes

1

: a military unit trained and organized for surprise raids

2

: a member of a commando