commandeer

verb

com·​man·​deer ˌkä-mən-ˈdir 

commandeered; commandeering; commandeers

transitive verb

1

a

: to compel to perform military service

Civilians were commandeered by the army and forced to fight.

b

: to seize for military purposes

The soldiers commandeered civilian vehicles to help transport the injured.

2

: to take arbitrary or forcible possession of

The city commandeered 60 acres of the property by eminent domain for a new high school.

Did you know?

Military forces have always had the power to commandeer houses. The Declaration of Independence complains about the way the British soldiers have done it, and the third Amendment to the Constitution states that the commandeering of people's houses shall be done only in a way prescribed by law. Almost anything—food, supplies, livestock, etc.—can be militarily commandeered when the need arises. But you don't have to be in the military for someone to "pull rank" on you: Your father may commandeer the car just when you were about to take it out for the evening, your teacher may commandeer your cell phone as you're texting in the middle of class, or your older sister may commandeer the TV remote to watch some lousy dancing competition.

Synonyms

• hijack
• highjack

Examples of commandeer in a Sentence

The soldiers commandeered civilian vehicles to help transport the injured.

an airliner commandeered by terrorists

Recent Examples on the Web

But with the flashback of those rescued comes the haunting memory of those lost — specifically, several hundred children who were on a train that was about to depart but commandeered by invading Nazi soldiers. —Gerrad Hall, EW.com, 12 Mar. 2024

These scams seem to mostly commandeer dormant X accounts purchased online through dark web marketplaces, according to a whitepaper released by the digital threat monitoring platform CloudSEK. —Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Jan. 2024

The area in dispute between Texas and the Biden administration Texas has commandeered this 2.5-mile swath of land in Eagle Pass and has largely barred US Border Patrol agents from patrolling and conducting normal operations. —Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 2 Feb. 2024

The caller commandeered a boat and reached the man just as firefighters arrived, Sylvia said. —Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 1 Feb. 2024

The Texas National Guard commandeered this park back in early January and has since blocked Border Patrol agents from entering this park. —CBS News, 28 Jan. 2024

In response, Intuitive Machines improvised a software patch that let Odysseus commandeer two lasers onboard an experimental navigation payload built by NASA. —Michael Greshko, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2024

Foster needs to sell season tickets, but campus needs to stop commandeering the concession revenue from basketball games in Pauley Pavilion. —Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 12 Feb. 2024

From a parking lot on the corner of 12th and Figueroa streets, Michael Lopez carefully commandeered his drone through the skyline around LA Live. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 3 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Afrikaans kommandeer, from French commander to command, from Old French comander

First Known Use

1881, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

commandeer

verb

com·​man·​deer ˌkäm-ən-ˈdi(ə)r 

: to take possession of by force especially for military purposes