captaining

verb

present participle of captain
1
as in supervising
to be in charge of if you do well on this, you'll be asked to captain the next mission

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in governing
to exercise authority or power over captained the project for a few days while the boss was out of town

Synonyms & Similar Words
3
as in leading
to serve as leader of you did a good job of captaining the team

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of captaining As her folks are in their eighties, Mary is now generally captaining the ship that is the Berry Center. — Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026 In a matter of years, Kapoor went from owning a multimillion-dollar home in Cocoplum and captaining a 68-foot yacht to living in federal custody. — Miami Herald, 29 Aug. 2026 Rodri, signed from Manchester City after captaining Spain to the World Cup title, came off the bench in the 62nd minute to a warm welcome from the Camp Nou crowd. — ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026 Celebrini got back to the Bay Area on Monday after an offseason that included captaining Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship in May in Switzerland, and watching Canada play in the World Cup in his hometown of Vancouver. — Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026 Knight has an incredible track record of success from college to the pros and at the international level, captaining Team USA Women's hockey to a gold medal at the 2026 Olympics in February. — Matt Finkel, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026 Archie Gray, who started with the armband after captaining the team throughout pre-season, recognised the team needed to show more fight in a post-match interview with Sky Sports. — Elias Burke, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026 Narrated by Charles Marlow, Heart of Darkness follows Marlow’s journey up the Congo River, captaining a ship into the heart of the African continent while searching for a trader called Kurtz. — Caroline Rogers, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2026 Princess Kate excelled at field hockey, captaining her team at Marlborough College. — Meredith Kile, PEOPLE, 17 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for captaining
  1. supervising
  2. governing
  3. leading
  4. overseeing
  5. ruling
  6. commanding
  7. handling
  8. managing
Verb
  • The jumper who was supervising the box that day, Joey Cowen, confirmed the request.
    — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026
  • While not directly involved in controlling the system, humans give Spike rules of engagement all the while, supervising the entire system during operation.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of supervising
Verb
  • School district rules While California has some laws governing electric bicycles, school districts may have varying rules.
    — Madison Smalstig, Sacbee.com, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Their families, educations, personalities, professional backgrounds, governing styles and political skills could not have been more different.
    — John T. Shaw, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of governing
Verb
  • Moments before, with Wells still at the plate and the Yankees leading 7-1, Flemming and color analyst Will Middlebrooks vented about Chisholm stealing second base and third base during the at-bat.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Check the leading management bestsellers and textbooks, including Gary Hamel’s Humanocracy, Eric Ries’s Incorruptible, Stephen Robbins and Mary Coulter’s Management and older classics like Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy.
    — Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of leading
Verb
  • Ternus, 50, previously served as senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, overseeing the production of popular products such as the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch.
    — Greta Cross, USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026
  • Ajay Arora was hired this year as VP of product management, overseeing TV and sports experiences at YouTube, including YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket.
    — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of overseeing
Verb
  • Niger’s ruling junta survived its most serious internal challenge since the 2023 coup after renegade soldiers mutinied in Niamey and Russian Africa Corps fighters helped presidential guards retake a key airbase.
    — Chinedu Asadu, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • After six months of war, Iran’s leadership has coalesced around a hard core of military generals and clerics long entrenched in the ruling theocracy.
    — Lee Keath, Fortune, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of ruling
Verb
  • And Dean will be the quintessential Mike, commanding the defense as the green dot.
    — Sam Warren, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Eastern Hills closed the first half in style when Highlander running back, Cameron Rembel, scored on a touchdown run, sending the Highlanders into the locker room with a commanding 42-0 lead.
    — Raul Avila, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of commanding
Verb
  • What those reviews don't capture is the proportion of bookings that complete without incident, which, across platforms handling millions of reservations annually, is considerably higher than review distributions suggest.
    — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Wash hands after handling any pet food and keep children away from pet food dishes and treats.
    — Kimberly Baker, The Conversation, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of handling
Verb
  • Having a healthy lawn means managing soil conditions for the roots, mowing properly, and strengthening the density of the grass by overseeding.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Asked about their firm’s primary hurdle in managing the current trade landscape, the vast majority (57 percent) said policy uncertainty, like tariffs changing with little notice, as their foremost challenge.
    — Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of managing

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Cite this Entry

“Captaining.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/captaining. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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