different between command vs appoint

English

Etymology

From Middle English commanden, commaunden, comaunden, comanden, from Old French comander (modern French commander), from Vulgar Latin *commandare, from Latin commendare, from com- + mandare, from mand? (“I order, command”). Compare commend (a doublet), and mandate.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /k??m??nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /k??mænd/
• Hyphenation: com?mand

Noun

command (countable and uncountable, plural commands)

1. An order to do something.

   I was given a command to cease shooting.

2. The right or authority to order, control or dispose of; the right to be obeyed or to compel obedience.

   to have command of an army
3. power of control, direction or disposal; mastery.

   he had command of the situation

   England has long held command of the sea

   a good command of language
4. A position of chief authority; a position involving the right or power to order or control.

   General Smith was placed in command.

5. The act of commanding; exercise or authority of influence.
   • 1851, Herbert Spencer, Social Statics, p. 180

     Command cannot be otherwise than savage, for it implies an appeal to force, should force be needful.

6. (military) A body or troops, or any naval or military force, under the control of a particular officer; by extension, any object or body in someone's charge.
7. Dominating situation; range or control or oversight; extent of view or outlook.
8. (computing) A directive to a computer program acting as an interpreter of some kind, in order to perform a specific task.
9. (baseball) The degree of control a pitcher has over his pitches.

   He's got good command tonight.

10. A command performance.
    • 1809, Dorothy Jordan, letter, cited in Claire Tomalin, Mrs Jordan's Profession, Penguin 2012, p. 220:

      Atkinson […] had hinted to me that the Duke of Richmond was so delighted with my acting that he should not be surprised if there was a second command.

Translations

See also

• imperative mood

References

• Command on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

command (third-person singular simple present commands, present participle commanding, simple past and past participle commanded)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To order, give orders; to compel or direct with authority.

   The soldier was commanded to cease firing.

   The king commanded his servant to bring him dinner.

   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Revenge

     We are commanded to forgive our enemies, but you never read that we are commanded to forgive our friends.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To have or exercise supreme power, control or authority over, especially military; to have under direction or control.

   to command an army or a ship
3. (transitive) To require with authority; to demand, order, enjoin.

   he commanded silence

   • 2013, Louise Taylor, English talent gets left behind as Premier League keeps importing (in The Guardian, 20 August 2013)[1]

     The reasons for this growing disconnect are myriad and complex but the situation is exacerbated by the reality that those English players who do smash through our game's "glass ceiling" command radically inflated transfer fees.

4. (transitive) to dominate through ability, resources, position etc.; to overlook.

   Bridges commanded by a fortified house. (Motley.)

5. (transitive) To exact, compel or secure by influence; to deserve, claim.

   A good magistrate commands the respect and affections of the people.

   Justice commands the respect and affections of the people.

   The best goods command the best price.

   This job commands a salary of £30,000.

6. (transitive) To hold, to control the use of.

   The fort commanded the bay.

   • Two wooden bridges led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house

   • December 1699, Joseph Addison, letter to William Congreve

     One [side] commands a view of the finest garden.

   • 1834, The Hobart Town Magazine (volume 2, page 323)

     […] they made considerable progress in the art of embalming the wild fruits of their native land, so that they might command cranberries and hindberries at all times and seasons.

7. (intransitive, archaic) To have a view, as from a superior position.
8. (obsolete) To direct to come; to bestow.

Synonyms

• (give an order): decree, order

Translations

Derived terms

References

• command in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “command”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

English

Etymology

From Middle English apointen, borrowed from Old French apointier (“to prepare, arrange, lean, place”) (French appointer (“to give a salary, refer a cause”)), from Late Latin appunctare (“to bring back to the point, restore, to fix the point in a controversy, or the points in an agreement”); Latin ad + punctum (“a point”). See point.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??p??nt/
• Rhymes: -??nt
• Hyphenation: ap?point

Verb

appoint (third-person singular simple present appoints, present participle appointing, simple past and past participle appointed)

1. (transitive) To set, fix or determine (a time or place for something such as a meeting, or the meeting itself) by authority or agreement.
   • 1820, The Edinburgh Annual Register:

     His Royal Highness called to pay his respects to her Majesty; but, from the unexpected nature of his visit, her Majesty was not in a state then to receive him; but soon after sent a letter to Prince Leopold, to appoint one o'clock this day for an interview.

   • 2014 November 8, Ivan Hewett, Art on demand makes emperors of us all, in The Telegraph:

     We have to wait until they're ready to receive us, and make sure we turn up at the appointed time.

2. (transitive) To name (someone to a post or role).

   • Aaron and his shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service.

   • 2014 November 3, Fredric U. Dicker, Cuomo appointed 'vote or else' strategist, in the New York Post:

     Neal Kwatra, appointed by Cuomo to be the state Democratic Party's chief campaign strategist, was identified by two key Democratic insiders[...]

3. (transitive) To furnish or equip (a place) completely; to provide with all the equipment or furnishings necessary; to fit out.
   • 2009, Donald Olson, Germany for Dummies:

     The hotel is beautifully designed and beautifully appointed in a classic, modern style that manages to be both serene and luxurious at the same time.

4. (transitive) To equip (someone) with (something); to assign (someone) authoritatively (some equipment).
5. (transitive, law) To fix the disposition of (property) by designating someone to take use of (it).
   • 1828–29 (case decided), published in 1843, in the Reports of Cases Decided in the High Court of Chancery:

     If the donee of a power appoint the fund to one of the objects of the power, under an understanding that the latter is to lend the fund to tho former, although on good security, the appointment is bad.

6. (obsolete, transitive) To fix with power or firmness by decree or command; to ordain or establish.

   • When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

   • Thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint.

7. (obsolete, intransitive) To resolve; to determine; to ordain.

   • For the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel.

   • 1823 December 13, a record quoted in The Christian Library: A Reprint of Popular Religious Works (Richard Watson, Thomas Taylor, Thomas Raffles, etc; 1836):

     The day being very stormy, we were obliged to keep at home; which I much regretted, as it abridged my opportunity of seeing the Jewish synagogues, as we had appointed to do to-day.

   • 1833, The Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. Matthew Henry:

     He had preached twice on the Lord's day, he preached also on Monday, and had appointed to do the same on Tuesday, but died that morning.

   • 1848, Anthony Trollope, The Kellys and the O'Kellys ?ISBN, page 251:

     On the following morning Lord Ballindine[,] as he had appointed to do, drove over to Dunmore, to settle with Martin about the money, and, if necessary, to go with him to the attorney's office in Tuam.

Derived terms

Related terms

• point

Translations

Further reading

• appoint at OneLook Dictionary Search
• appoint in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• antipop, apoptin

French

Etymology

Deverbal of appointer. from Old French apoint (“favorable occasion; resolution, agreement”), from Old French apointier (“to work out, solve”), from Late Latin appunctare (“to bring back to the point, restore, to fix the point in a controversy, or the points in an agreement”); Latin ad + punctum (“a point”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.pw??/

Noun

appoint m (plural appoints)

1. an amount of small change

2. money which completes a payment, balances an account
3. (figuratively) complementary support

Derived terms

• faire l'appoint
• câbles d’appoint
• carburant d'appoint
• lit d'appoint
• propulseur d'appoint
• pièce d’appoint

Further reading

• “appoint” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).