SERGEANT

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sergeant mean? 

• SERGEANT (noun)
  The noun SERGEANT has 3 senses:

1. any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal

2. a lawman with the rank of sergeant

3. an English barrister of the highest rank

  Familiarity information: SERGEANT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SERGEANT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

enlisted officer; noncom; noncommissioned officer (a military officer appointed from enlisted personnel)

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

color sergeant (a sergeant in a color guard who carries one of the colors)

first sergeant; sergeant first class (a sergeant in the Army above the rank of staff sergeant and below master sergeant)

gunnery sergeant (a noncommissioned officer ranking above a staff sergeant in the marines)

master sergeant (a senior noncommissioned officer in the Army or Marines)

recruiting-sergeant (a sergeant deputized to enlist recruits)

senior master sergeant; SMSgt (a senior noncommissioned officer in the Air Force with a rank comparable to master sergeant in the Army)

command sergeant major; sergeant major (a noncommissioned officer serving as chief administrative officer of a headquarters unit of the Army)

staff sergeant (a noncommissioned officer ranking above corporal and below sergeant first class in the Army or Marines or above airman 1st class in the Air Force)

technical sergeant (a noncommissioned officer ranking below a master sergeant in the air force or marines)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A lawman with the rank of sergeant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

police sergeant; sergeant

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

law officer; lawman; peace officer (an officer of the law)

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

buck sergeant (a sergeant of the lowest rank in the military)

desk sergeant; deskman; station keeper (the police sergeant on duty in a police station)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An English barrister of the highest rank

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

sergeant; sergeant-at-law; serjeant; serjeant-at-law

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

barrister (a British or Canadian lawyer who speaks in the higher courts of law on behalf of either the defense or prosecution)

 Context examples 

“Bless you, sir, we know you very well,” said the sergeant, “but you can’t stay here without a warrant.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sergeant Tuson, of the City Police, was somewhat surprised, therefore to see a gentleman with a carpet bag come down the steps at twenty minutes past one.

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

Saturn may be supportive, but can also be a drill sergeant, as he works to help you polish your performance.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A dream of their coming in with Dora; of the pew-opener arranging us, like a drill-sergeant, before the altar rails; of my wondering, even then, why pew-openers must always be the most disagreeable females procurable, and whether there is any religious dread of a disastrous infection of good-humour which renders it indispensable to set those vessels of vinegar upon the road to Heaven.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A sergeant and a constable stood in the doorway.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was one sergeant that was horribly wounded and yet kept on swimming for a surprising time, until some one in mercy blew out his brains.

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

Said a different way, this means this partnership of drill sergeant Saturn and powerhouse Pluto has been affecting you and every person of every sign over the past nine or ten months.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“We know where to lay our hands on this gentleman if he is wanted,” said the sergeant majestically, “but you’ll have to go, Mr. Holmes.”

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His suspicions being aroused, the sergeant followed the man, and with the aid of Constable Pollock succeeded, after a most desperate resistance, in arresting him.

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