commend
/kəˈmɛnd
/- Senior control operators are now looking at the possibility of officially commending Fiona for her efforts.
- Restored Victorian buildings and innovative new designs have been officially commended in a town watchdog's annual awards.
- Fire officers plan to officially commend Jonathan for his bravery.
Synonyms
- Cynical consultants would expect the Department of Health to suggest such a move, but it is quite astonishing that the BMA should not just suggest but commend this to us and at standard rates of pay.
- With those few remarks, I commend the revised Standing Orders and the committee's recommendation to this House.
- It is not one that commended itself to the judge originally dealing with the paper application.
Synonyms
- Nevertheless, the claims which the Secretary-General was making surely have quite a lot to commend them.
- It has a lot of opportunity and a lot to commend it.
- Neither view commends itself very strongly to the present author.
- I commended my soul to God and said in a quaking voice, ‘Yes.’
- And like untold hundreds of men and woman have done throughout the Conference's 57-year history, I closed my eyes, commended my soul to God, and accepted the invitation.
- Mr. O'Neal thanked God for the life of the deceased and the service he rendered and commended his soul to God.
Synonyms
- And for this I commend them to their station commander.
- My dear and well beloved father, I commend me to you, doing you to wit that I have but a little while to go and am like within a short time with the grace of God to be delivered of child.
- When her Son saw her and his other friends weeping with a tearful voice he commended her to John.
Phrases
highly commended
Origin
Middle English: from Latin commendare, from com- (expressing intensive force) + mandare 'commit, entrust'. Compare with command.
commando from early 19th century:
In early use commando was a word for an armed unit of Boer horsemen in South Africa. During the Second World War the name was adopted to describe troops specially trained to repel the threatened German invasion of England. The word came into English from Portuguese, but is based on Latin commandare ‘to command’ from com- (giving emphasis) and mandare ‘commit, command, entrust’. To go commando is to wear no underpants, said to be common among commandos. This curious phrase dates back to the 1980s and probably originated as American college slang, although it was popularized by its use in an episode of the 1990s TV comedy Friends. Also from South Africa and the same period is commandeer from Afrikaans. Command itself came into use in Middle English, taken from the Latin via French. From the same root come remand (Late Middle English) ‘command back’; commend (Middle English), formed in the same way as command, but with the sense ‘entrust’ and recommend (Late Middle English); and demand (Middle English) ‘command formally’.