NCO
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Noncommissioned officer |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Military, Law & Legal |
NCO has two meanings. It stands for Noncommissioned officer (military term) or No-contact order (criminal law).
Meanings of NCO at a glance
| # | NCO stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noncommissioned officer | Military › Military Term |
| 2 | No-contact order | Law & Legal › Criminal Law |
1. Noncommissioned officer
Military · Military Term Abbreviations
Enlisted service member in a leadership grade, such as a corporal or sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, a petty officer in the Navy and Coast Guard, or a staff sergeant and above in the Air Force. NCOs supervise and train junior enlisted members and carry out officers' orders.
Example: Every NCO in the company signed the counseling statement before the inspection.
NCOs hold their authority by appointment from their service rather than by commission from the president. The Army calls its NCO corps "the backbone of the Army," a phrase borrowed from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The 'Eathen," and Baron von Steuben's 1779 "Blue Book" first spelled out NCO duties for the Continental Army. Which grades count as NCOs differs by service: an Army specialist and an Air Force senior airman are E-4s but not NCOs.
2. No-contact order
Law & Legal · Criminal Law Abbreviations
Court order forbidding a defendant from contacting a named person, usually the alleged victim, directly or through others, often as a condition of pretrial release or probation in domestic violence and harassment cases. Violating it can mean arrest and new charges.
Example: As a release condition, the court imposed an NCO barring any calls, texts or social media messages to his ex-girlfriend.
Criminal no-contact orders differ from civil protective orders, which the protected person requests in family or civil court. Some courts call them stay-away orders or criminal protective orders. In the military, NCO means noncommissioned officer.
Related abbreviations
More military term abbreviations
- MSR – Main supply route
- MTF – Military treatment facility
- MWR – Morale, Welfare and Recreation
- NBC – Nuclear, biological and chemical
- NCOER – Noncommissioned Officer Evaluation Report
- NCOIC – Noncommissioned officer in charge
- NDAA – National Defense Authorization Act
- NEC – Navy Enlisted Classification
See all 248 military term abbreviations →
More criminal law abbreviations
- IST – Incompetent to stand trial
- LWOP – Life without parole
- Misd. – Misdemeanor
- MPC – Model Penal Code
- NGRI – Not guilty by reason of insanity
- NPA – Non-prosecution agreement
- PBJ – Probation before judgment
- PC – Probable cause
See all 46 criminal law abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not legal advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.