commandeer
verb
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Military forces have always had the power to commandeer houses. The Declaration of Independence complains about the way the British soldiers have done it, and the third Amendment to the Constitution states that the commandeering of people's houses shall be done only in a way prescribed by law. Almost anything—food, supplies, livestock, etc.—can be militarily commandeered when the need arises. But you don't have to be in the military for someone to "pull rank" on you: Your father may commandeer the car just when you were about to take it out for the evening, your teacher may commandeer your cell phone as you're texting in the middle of class, or your older sister may commandeer the TV remote to watch some lousy dancing competition.
Examples of commandeer in a Sentence
Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Apr. 2024
Read: Trump’s plan to police gender As the Vietnam War began, Darling made her way into off-Broadway productions and quickly fell in with an avant-garde crowd commandeered by Warhol.
—Mayukh Sen, The Atlantic, 9 Apr. 2024
In 2006, when settlers commandeered roads for their exclusive use, Turmus Ayya residents had to take ever-longer detours to get home.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2024
Since 2022, the city has opened more than 200 emergency sites exclusively to shelter migrants, commandeering hotels and converting spaces into dormitories.
—Karin Brulliard, Washington Post, 20 Mar. 2024
Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission was targeted in an attack that commandeered the agency's account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 30 Jan. 2024
But with the flashback of those rescued comes the haunting memory of those lost — specifically, several hundred children who were on a train that was about to depart but commandeered by invading Nazi soldiers.
—Gerrad Hall, EW.com, 12 Mar. 2024
These scams seem to mostly commandeer dormant X accounts purchased online through dark web marketplaces, according to a whitepaper released by the digital threat monitoring platform CloudSEK.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 5 Jan. 2024
The area in dispute between Texas and the Biden administration
Texas has commandeered this 2.5-mile swath of land in Eagle Pass and has largely barred US Border Patrol agents from patrolling and conducting normal operations.
—Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 2 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'commandeer.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Commandeer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commandeer. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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commandeer
verb
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