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Military & Defence vocabulary · Ranks & Personnel

Captain

Meaning in military & defence, with examples

/ˈkæptɪn/nounCore term

In military & defence, captain means: An army or air force officer rank above lieutenant; in the navy, a much more senior rank held by officers who command large ships.

In Turkish: yüzbaşı, albay (deniz kuvvetlerinde)

How it is used

An army captain (NATO OF-2) is a yüzbaşı and often commands a company; a navy captain (OF-5) is equal to an army colonel. 'Captain' is also the person in command of any ship or aircraft, whatever their rank.

Example sentences

  1. Captain Demir will command the company during next month's exercise.

  2. The ship's captain welcomed the visiting officers on board.

Common collocations

  • army captain
  • navy captain
  • promoted to captain
  • the ship's captain
  • lieutenantA junior officer rank, usually the first one an officer holds after training; in the army a lieutenant often commands a platoon.
  • colonelA senior officer rank above lieutenant colonel; a colonel may command a regiment or brigade, or hold an important headquarters post.
  • companyA unit of roughly 80 to 250 soldiers, made up of several platoons and usually commanded by a captain or a major.
  • navyThe branch of the armed forces that operates at sea, with its warships, submarines, naval aircraft and the people who serve in them.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Ranks & Personnel

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