How do you use the word "colonel" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "colonel": He was raised to the rank of colonel two years ago. He advanced to colonel.

Colonel Meaning

/ˈkɜː.nl̩/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA commissioned officer in an armed military organization, typically the highest rank before flag officer ranks (generals). It is generally found in armies, air forces or naval infantry (marines).

nounA military leader, distinct from the modern professional military rank.

Sentence Examples

He was raised to the rank of colonel two years ago.

He advanced to colonel.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The ____ commanded the regiment during the fierce battle last night.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The respected military ____ delivered a powerful speech to motivate his weary soldiers.

Word Origin & History

First attested in the 1540s, from Middle French coronnel, from Old Italian colonnello (“the officer of a small company of soldiers (column) that marched at the head of a regiment”), from compagnia colonnella (“little column company”), from Latin columna (“pillar”), originally a collateral form of columen, contraction culmen (“a pillar, top, crown, summit”), o-grade form from a Proto-Indo-European *kelH- (“to rise, be elevated, be prominent”). See hill, holm. The French spelling was reformed late 16th century. The English spelling was modified in 1580s in learned writing to conform to the Italian form (via translations of Italian military manuals), and differing pronunciations (either with "r" or "l") coexisted until around 1650, where it came to be pronounced with "r" only. Spanish and Portuguese coronel, also from Italian, shows similar evolution by dissimilation and perhaps by influence of corona.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The colonel and his sponsor made a queer contrast: Greystone long and stringy, with a face that seemed as if a cold wind was eternally playing on it. […] But there was not a more lascivious reprobate and gourmand in all London than this same Greystone." — 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

"General Charles-Maximilian Fiennes was made colonel of the army." — 2009, Ranulph Fiennes, chapter 21, in Mad Dogs and Englishmen: An Expedition Round My Family, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 284:

""Colonel" was often used as an honorific, indicating no actual military service: between 1792 and 1916, according to Ron Bryant, a curator at the Kentucky Historical Society, 400 of the 650 colonels commissioned were honorary." — 2002, Kate Chopin and Anna Julia Cooper, “Critiquing Kentucky and the South”, in The Southern Literary Journal, volume 35, number 1, page 127:

"Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, And out he rode Colonelling." — 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, London, page 2:

"Consequently the necessity for the reorganization of the Guard, during the ten months’ absence of yourself and Colonels Smith and Banks, could not have been averted under our present Military Code." — 1899 March 31, Geo[rge] W[esley] Atkinson, “Status of Members of National Guard, Who were Volunteers In the Spanish War.—Correspondence Between Governor Atkinson and General [Baldwin Day] Spilman.”, in Public Addresses, Etc., of Geo. W. Atkinson, LL. D., D. C. L., Governor of West Virginia, During His Term of Office. […], [Charleston, W.Va.]: […] Public Printer, published 1901, →OCLC, page 291:

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