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commissariat


Definition of commissariat

noun

  • 1chiefly Military a department for the supply of food and equipment.
  • 2a government department of the USSR before 1946.

Origin:

late 16th century (as a Scots legal term denoting the jurisdiction of a commissary, often spelled commissariot): from French commissariat, reinforced by medieval Latin commissariatus, both from medieval Latin commissarius 'person in charge', from Latin committere 'entrust'

commissariat in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of commissariat in the US English dictionary