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commissar

UK/ˌkɒmɪˈsɑː/US/ˈkɑ.məˌsɑɹ/
nounC2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,577 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: commissars

A commissar was a political official in a communist state or army. The political commissar, a party commissar, the commissar's report.

In the Red Army the role was to watch the officers as much as to instruct the troops, and orders needed the signature of both. The word is used loosely and hostilely now for any official enforcing a line, which is a long way from the original post.

Definitions of commissar

  1. 1nouncommissarA political official in a communist state or army.C2

    “The commissar reported any soldier who criticised the party.”

commissar is an official.

Remember it

COMMISSAR → the Soviet officer at the back of the room

In the Soviet army every unit had one: a political officer at the back of the room, there to watch what the soldiers said.

hooks ontoofficerarmy

Where it comes from

Russian komissar comes through German from Latin commissarius, one entrusted with a task.

  1. Latin

    commissarius

  2. German

    Kommissar — commissioner

  3. Russian

    комисса́р

  4. English, today

    commissar

Built from

  • committō · Latin — to commit, entrust to

Russian комисса́р, from German Kommissar (“commissioner”), from Latin commissarius, from commissus, past participle of committō (“to commit, entrust to”). a doublet of commissary.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

commissar in the wild

  • Political commissars were heavily used within the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

    Political commissar

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.