Standard Lemma guide

generalissimo

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˌd͡ʒɛnəɹəˈlisimoʊ/
  • UK: /ˌd͡ʒɛnəɹəˈliːsɪməʊ/
  • UK: /ˌd͡ʒɛnəɹəˈlɪsɪməʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: JH EH2 N EH0 R AH0 L IH1 S IH0 M OW2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: government, military, politics, war

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the officer who holds the supreme command

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • in the U.S. the president is the commander in chief

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: commander in chief

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: commanding officer, commandant, commander

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian generalissimo, superlative of generale.

Across languages

Translations

29 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: генерали́симус (generalísimus) — supreme commander
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大元帥 /大元帅 (dàyuánshuài) — supreme commander
  • Chinese Mandarin: 大帥 /大帅 (dàshuài) — supreme commander
  • Czech: generalissimus — supreme commander
  • Esperanto: ĉefgeneralo — supreme commander
  • Finnish: generalissimo — supreme commander
  • Finnish: generalissimus — supreme commander
  • French: généralissime — supreme commander
  • Georgian: გენერალისიმუსი (generalisimusi) — supreme commander
  • German: Generalissimus — supreme commander
  • Greek: αρχιστράτηγος (archistrátigos) — supreme commander
  • Hungarian: generalisszimusz — supreme commander
  • Indonesian: jenderal besar — supreme commander
  • Irish: ardghinearál — supreme commander
  • Italian: generalissimo — supreme commander
  • Japanese: 総統 (sōtō) — supreme commander
  • Japanese: 大元帥 (daigensui) — supreme commander
  • Kazakh: генералиссимус (generalissimus) — supreme commander
  • Korean: 총통 (chongtong) — supreme commander
  • Korean: 대원수 (daewonsu) — supreme commander
  • Macedonian: генерали́симус (generalísimus) — supreme commander
  • Manx: ard-chionfenee — supreme commander
  • Eastern Mari: генералиссимус (geńeraĺissimus) — supreme commander
  • Polish: generalissimus — supreme commander
  • Portuguese: generalíssimo — supreme commander
  • Romanian: generalisim — supreme commander
  • Russian: генерали́ссимус (generalíssimus) — supreme commander
  • Spanish: generalísimo — supreme commander
  • Turkish: başkomutan — supreme commander