Commissioning

How to spell commissioning

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce commissioning

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commissioning mean?

1. verbThe process of preparing, testing, and formally bringing a new system, building, or piece of equipment into operation.
2. verbThe act of formally ordering and paying for a piece of work, such as art, writing, or research, to be created.

Commissioning in a sentence

• The commissioning of the new power plant took almost six months.

• The gallery is commissioning a series of portraits from local artists.

• Engineers oversaw the commissioning of the hospital's ventilation system.

• The council is commissioning an independent report into the flooding.

Where does commissioning come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb committere and the related noun commissio, built from com- meaning 'together' and mittere meaning 'to send' or 'to put'. In medieval Latin commissio came to mean an entrusting or a formal charge handed to someone, the act of putting a task into their hands. English borrowed 'commission' through Old French in the 1300s, first as the authority or warrant given to a person to act on another's behalf. From that root grew the modern verb 'to commission', meaning to order, to appoint, or to bring formally into service, and 'commissioning' is its gerund and present-participle form. The doubled m and the double s are the spelling traps, and both come straight from the Latin com- prefix meeting the miss root, the same root that gives us 'mission', 'transmit', and 'submit'.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• miss (from Latin mittere: to send)
• -ion (noun-forming)
• -ing (present participle / gerund)