BATTALION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does battalion mean? 

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

1. an army unit usually consisting of a headquarters and three or more companies

2. a large indefinite number

  Familiarity information: BATTALION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BATTALION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An army unit usually consisting of a headquarters and three or more companies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

army unit (a military unit that is part of an army)

Meronyms (members of "battalion"):

company (small military unit; usually two or three platoons)

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

United States Army Rangers (a specially trained elite unit of the United States Army)

Holonyms ("battalion" is a member of...):

regiment (army unit smaller than a division)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large indefinite number

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

battalion; large number; multitude; pack; plurality

Context example:

a plurality of religions

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

large indefinite amount; large indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is above the average in size or magnitude)

 Context examples 

The first battalion of the Royal Mallows (which is the old 117th) has been stationed at Aldershot for some years.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Let us rest here, said St. John, as we reached the first stragglers of a battalion of rocks, guarding a sort of pass, beyond which the beck rushed down a waterfall; and where, still a little farther, the mountain shook off turf and flower, had only heath for raiment and crag for gem—where it exaggerated the wild to the savage, and exchanged the fresh for the frowning—where it guarded the forlorn hope of solitude, and a last refuge for silence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)