Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The commander in chief of all the armed forces in certain countries.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A commander-in-chief; the supreme commander of all the forces of a country, of several armies, or of an army comprising several corps or divisions acting separately.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The chief commander of an army; especially, the commander in chief of an army consisting of two or more grand divisions under separate commanders; -- a title used in most foreign countries.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun military A supreme commander of the armed forces of a country, especially one who is also a political leader.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the officer who holds the supreme command

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, superlative of generale, a general, from Latin generālis, general; see general.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian

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Examples

  • Driven out of the city by the Hakka General the previous year, Sun had been allowed to take back the title of generalissimo by two other warlords: General Yang of the Army of Yunnan and General Liu of the Army of Kwangsi, both provinces lying west of Canton’s province of Kwangtung.

    The Last Empress Hannah Pakula 2009

  • The generalissimo was a man of few, usually cryptic, words.

    Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

  • He was also known to refer to the generalissimo as “a lily-livered Chink” and a “slant-eyed snake.”

    The Last Empress Hannah Pakula 2009

  • The president of this council is the Minister of War; the vice president is known as the generalissimo of the French army.

    Foch the Man Laughlin, Clara E 1918

  • He called the generalissimo's brother-in-law el cuñadísimo.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 2 1991

  • The generalissimo was a brutal, corrupt, and ineffective commander who wanted the Americans to fight his war with the Japanese while he husbanded his army to battle Mao’s communists.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • The generalissimo was a brutal, corrupt, and ineffective commander who wanted the Americans to fight his war with the Japanese while he husbanded his army to battle Mao’s communists.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • Mr. Hamm mostly acted as Tina Fey's straight man, but, he did have one great reaction to her, when she called herself the "generalissimo": "I don't even know what that means!"

    The New York Observer - 2009

  • Shogun is more accurately - "generalissimo" or better understood as "Military Dictator", The most famous probably being Tokugawa Ieyasu, who found the Tokugawa Shogunate (c. 1603-1868), a period a great peace, stability and prosperity in Japanese History, ending with the Meiji Restoration.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

  • Shogun is more accurately - "generalissimo" or better understood as "Military Dictator", The most famous probably being Tokugawa Ieyasu, who found the Tokugawa Shogunate (c. 1603-1868), a period a great peace, stability and prosperity in Japanese History, ending with the Meiji Restoration.

    Army Rumour Service 2009

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