COMMANDMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does commandment mean? 

• COMMANDMENT (noun)
  The noun COMMANDMENT has 2 senses:

1. something that is commanded

2. a doctrine that is taught

  Familiarity information: COMMANDMENT used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMANDMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Something that is commanded

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("commandment" is a kind of...):

bid; bidding; command; dictation (an authoritative direction or instruction to do something)

Instance hyponyms:

Decalogue; Ten Commandments (the biblical commandments of Moses)

Derivation:

command (make someone do something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A doctrine that is taught

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

commandment; precept; teaching

Context example:

he believed all the Christian precepts

Hypernyms ("commandment" is a kind of...):

doctrine; ism; philosophical system; philosophy; school of thought (a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "commandment"):

Golden Rule (a command based on Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount)

mitsvah; mitzvah ((Judaism) a precept or commandment of the Jewish law)

 Context examples 

Well, then, my first commandment is, Thou shalt not omit to shave every day.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But how can it, when it's so contradictory that I don't know whether I've written a promising book or broken all the ten commandments? cried poor Jo, turning over a heap of notices, the perusal of which filled her with pride and joy one minute, wrath and dismay the next.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)