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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
commanding
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a commanding lead (=a big lead)
▪ Alonso raced into a commanding lead.
commanding officer
▪ a commanding officer of the SAS
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
height
▪ If a Spencer never quite reached the commanding heights, they certainly walked confidently along the corridors of power.
▪ Labour was attempting to control what were known as the commanding heights of the economy.
lead
▪ An Alex Snow try and three penalties from Andrew had given London a commanding lead.
▪ John Lyall's team have such a commanding lead that at least one leading bookmaker is no longer taking bets on the race.
▪ Auriol and Biasion tore through the first four special stages to take a commanding lead.
officer
▪ His recommendation was that a commanding officer be appointed with an administrative staff.
▪ Your father had a telephone call an hour ago from Judd's commanding officer.
▪ However, its commanding officer, Maj.-Gen.
▪ Behind the familiar trestle table with its grey army blanket, sat the commanding officer flanked by two others of lesser rank.
▪ Dysart's commanding officer on his very first ship to be precise.
▪ Willys, in defiance of the royal wishes, marched out to welcome his old commanding officer.
▪ A kind letter from the commanding officer, his kit bag.
position
▪ Even if shot to pieces the commanding position of the banqueting hall would still make it defensible.
▪ In a commanding position high on a hill overlooking the village stands the church of All Saints.
▪ By the time he entered London he was in a commanding position.
▪ Jackson squirmed forward on the sofa to try and get in a commanding position.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Polls have shown Isaacs to have a commanding lead.
▪ Porter has a commanding voice and moves with authority.
▪ The 2500-square-foot home has a commanding view of Whitby Island.
▪ Wilmot is commanding officer of an Army Reserve unit.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Auriol and Biasion tore through the first four special stages to take a commanding lead.
▪ Does she perform several different speech acts with the word, questioning, commanding, wishing, stating?
▪ Even if shot to pieces the commanding position of the banqueting hall would still make it defensible.
▪ His recommendation was that a commanding officer be appointed with an administrative staff.
▪ On the upper floors are a documentation centre and administrative offices with a commanding view of the city.
▪ Still, it's a magnificent place, perched on a great rock jutting out into the sea and with commanding views.
▪ With Wright in such commanding form these days, it's bound to succeed.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Commanding

Command \Com*mand"\ (?; 61), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Commanded; p. pr. & vb. n. Commanding.] [OE. comaunden, commanden, OF. comander, F. commander, fr. L. com- + mandare to commit to, to command. Cf. Commend, Mandate.]

  1. To order with authority; to lay injunction upon; to direct; to bid; to charge.

    We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
    --Bacon.

    Go to your mistress: Say, I command her come to me.
    --Shak.

  2. To exercise direct authority over; to have control of; to have at one's disposal; to lead.

    Monmouth commanded the English auxiliaries.
    --Macaulay.

    Such aid as I can spare you shall command.
    --Shak.

  3. To have within a sphere of control, influence, access, or vision; to dominate by position; to guard; to overlook.

    Bridges commanded by a fortified house.
    --Motley.

    Up to the eastern tower, Whose height commands as subject all the vale.
    --Shak.

    One side commands a view of the finest garden.
    --Addison.

  4. To have power or influence of the nature of authority over; to obtain as if by ordering; to receive as a due; to challenge; to claim; as, justice commands the respect and affections of the people; the best goods command the best price.

    'Tis not in mortals to command success.
    --Addison.

  5. To direct to come; to bestow. [Obs.]

    I will command my blessing upon you.
    --Lev. xxv. 21.

    Syn: To bid; order; direct; dictate; charge; govern; rule; overlook.

Commanding

Commanding \Com*mand"ing\, a.

  1. Exercising authority; actually in command; as, a commanding officer.

  2. Fitted to impress or control; as, a commanding look or presence.

  3. Exalted; overlooking; having superior strategic advantages; as, a commanding position.

    Syn: Authoritative; imperative; imperious.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
commanding

late 15c. (in astronomy), present participle adjective from command (v.). Meaning "nobly dignified" is from 1590s. Meaning "dominant by virtue of size or position" is from 1630s. Related: Commandingly (mid-15c.).

Wiktionary
commanding
  1. Tending to give commands, authoritarian. n. The act of giving a command. v

  2. (present participle of command English)

WordNet
commanding
  1. adj. of the highest rank; used of persons; "the commanding officer" [syn: ranking, top-level, top-ranking]

  2. used of a height or viewpoint; "a commanding view of the ocean"; "looked up at the castle dominating the countryside"; "the balcony overlooking the ballroom" [syn: dominating, overlooking]

Wikipedia

Usage examples of "commanding".

Given his blue-blood heritage, the kid had expected to advance his military career with a few helpful nudges and memos directed to the appropriate commanding officers.

Persian Government, General Quinan, who was commanding in Iraq, had been ordered on July 22 to be ready to occupy the oil refinery at Abadan and the oilfields, together with those two hundred and fifty miles farther north near Khanaqin.

And when Adonai sent his Malakhim to retrieve her, she laughed, and opened the book and read aloud a word, commanding them by the Sacred Name to return empty-handed.

Antony worked as a senior legate for Caesar, commanding the embarkation in Brundisium and then in the field in Macedonia and Greece, Dolabella commanded a fleet in the Adriatic and was defeated so ignominiously that Caesar never bothered with him again.

Harry lay at the end of a narrow defile, thirty feet wide at the most at its base, overlooked on both sides by towering cliffs and by Afridi, each commanding a wide field of fire through which a rescuing force would need to pass.

Though neither Ryder nor David was aware of it, the master gunner commanding the mounted battery was the Ansar whom David had dubbed the Bedlam Bedouin.

Commanding was part of his nature, and Antonio knew his father expected to be obeyed.

On the 12th of July Jack rode out with his commanding officer, who, with many others, accompanied the reconnaissance made by the Turks and French, on a foraging and reconnoitring party, towards Baidar, but they did not come in contact with the Russians.

This is the price of commanding That you watch your dearest die Sending women and men To Bght again And you never tell them why.

Rear Admiral Fritz Bonte, commanding the German destroyer flotilla, answered by sending an officer in a launch to the Norwegian vessel to demand surrender.

Bill Brakey, a gun in either hand, would have stood in the doorway, commanding the situation.

He turned back toward Caliban and addressed him in a firm, commanding voice.

January 1928, as the result of feuds at 15th Infantry Headquarters, Stilwell was transferred at the request of General Castner from troop duty to General Staff duty as acting Chief of Staff to the Commanding General.

The valiant Catalonian, and the fierce countess, must have been dangerous neighbours to their foes, commanding as they did the country, for leagues round.

Arthur had given me Cavan, I think, in case my authority should prove no greater than my years, but in all honesty I never had trouble commanding men.