captain
/'kæptin/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A person in charge of a ship or aircraft: The leader or commander of a ship, boat, or commercial airplane.
- A leader of a group or team: The person who leads, commands, or is in charge of a team, unit, or organization.
- A rank in military or police forces: An officer's rank in the army, marine corps, or police force, typically above a lieutenant and below a major.
- A dining-room supervisor: A headwaiter or attendant in charge of other waiters and customer seating in a restaurant.
Verb:
- To lead or command as a captain: To act as the captain or leader of a team, ship, or other group.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- The captain gave the order to abandon ship. (The commander of the ship gave the evacuation order.)
- She was elected captain of the soccer team. (She was chosen to be the leader of the soccer team.)
- He holds the rank of captain in the army. (His military officer rank is captain.)
- Please ask the captain for a table by the window. (Please ask the headwaiter for a window seat.)
Verb:
- He will captain the national team in the next tournament. (He will lead the national team as its captain in the next tournament.)
Advanced Usage
"A captain of industry": A very powerful and influential leader in the business or industrial world.
- He was regarded as a true captain of industry for his innovations.
To "captain a ship": To be in command of a vessel.
- It was his dream to one day captain a ship across the Atlantic.
Variants and Related Words
Captaincy (n): The position or period of being a captain.
- He assumed the captaincy of the team last season.
Captainship (n): Synonym for captaincy; the role or skill of a captain.
- Her captainship was crucial during the crisis.
Synonyms
- Commander: A person in authority, especially over a body of troops or a military operation.
- Leader: The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.
- Skipper: Informal term for the captain of a ship, boat, or sports team.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Captain" is not commonly used to form phrasal verbs. Its usage is primarily as a noun or a simple transitive verb.)
Related Idioms
To captain one's own ship: To be in control of one's own life and decisions.
- After graduation, she was ready to captain her own ship.
A captain goes down with the ship: A proverb meaning the leader accepts ultimate responsibility, especially in a disaster.
- The CEO refused to resign, believing a captain goes down with the ship.
Noun
- a dining-room attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers
- the pilot in charge of an airship
- the leader of a group of people
- a captain of industry
- an officer who is licensed to command a merchant ship
- a policeman in charge of a precinct
- the naval officer in command of a military ship
- an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
Verb
- be the captain of a sports team