Commanding

How to spell commanding

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce commanding

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commanding mean?

1. adjectivePowerful and impressive in a way that controls a situation or attracts attention.
2. verbPresent participle of command: giving orders to or being in control of someone or something.

Commanding in a sentence

• adjective

  The hotel suite offered a commanding view over the entire harbour.

• verb

  The general was still commanding the troops from a forward position.

• adjective

  Her commanding presence quietened the noisy boardroom within seconds.

• verb

  She spent two years commanding a research vessel in the Atlantic.

Where does commanding come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb mandare, which meant 'to commit, to entrust, or to order', itself formed from manus 'hand' and dare 'to give', so the literal sense was to place something into someone's hand. In Vulgar Latin this became commandare, with the prefix com- adding force, and it passed into Old French as comander, meaning to give an order. English took it in during the 1200s as 'command', and the participle 'commanding' developed naturally as a verb form before settling into its modern adjectival life. From the idea of giving orders the adjective came to mean dominant or impressive, as in a commanding view that looks down over everything or a commanding lead that controls a contest. The same mandare root survives in relatives like 'mandate', 'demand', and 'recommend', and the doubled m in those cousins is a useful reminder that 'commanding' also carries two m letters.

How the word is built

• com- (intensive, from Latin com-, fully)
• mand (from Latin mandare, to order or entrust)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)