SOLDIER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does soldier mean? 

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

1. an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army

2. a wingless sterile ant or termite having a large head and powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony

  Familiarity information: SOLDIER used as a noun is rare.

• SOLDIER (verb)
  The verb SOLDIER has 1 sense:

1. serve as a soldier in the military

  Familiarity information: SOLDIER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOLDIER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An enlisted man or woman who serves in an army

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the soldiers stood at attention

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

enlisted person (a serviceman who ranks below a commissioned officer)

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

regular (a soldier in the regular army)

militiaman (a member of the militia; serves only during emergencies)

orderly (a soldier who serves as an attendant to a superior officer)

para; paratrooper (a soldier in the paratroops)

peacekeeper (a member of a military force that is assigned (often with international sanction) to preserve peace in a trouble area)

pistoleer (someone armed with a pistol (especially a soldier so armed))

poilu (a French soldier (especially in World War I))

Gurkha (a member of the Nepalese force that has been part of the British army for 200 years; known for fierceness in combat)

ranker (an enlisted soldier who serves in the ranks of the armed forces)

point man (a soldier who goes ahead of a patrol)

reservist (a member of a military reserve)

rifleman (a soldier whose weapon is a rifle)

Section Eight (a soldier who received a Section Eight discharge as unfit for military service)

tank driver; tanker (a soldier who drives a tank)

territorial (nonprofessional soldier member of a territorial military unit)

Unknown Soldier (an unidentified soldier whose body is honored as a memorial)

Wac (a member of the Women's Army Corps)

Uriah ((Old Testament) the husband of Bathsheba and a soldier who was sent to die in battle so that king David could marry his wife (circa 10th century BC))

cannon fodder; fodder; fresh fish (soldiers who are regarded as expendable in the face of artillery fire)

Anzac (a soldier in the Australian and New Zealand army corps during World War I)

marine (a soldier who serves both on shipboard and on land)

cavalryman; trooper (a soldier mounted on horseback)

cavalryman; trooper (a soldier in a motorized army unit)

color bearer; standard-bearer (the soldier who carries the standard of the unit in military parades or in battle)

Confederate soldier (a soldier in the Army of the Confederacy during the American Civil War)

lobsterback; redcoat (British soldier; so-called because of his red coat (especially during the American Revolution))

flanker (a soldier who is a member of a detachment assigned to guard the flanks of a military formation)

Green Beret (a soldier who is a member of the United States Army Special Forces)

man-at-arms (a heavily armed and mounted soldier in medieval times)

legionary; legionnaire (a soldier who is a member of a legion (especially the French Foreign Legion))

jawan ((India) a private soldier or male constable)

Janissary (a Turkish soldier)

Highlander (a soldier in a Scottish regiment from the Highlands)

goldbrick (a soldier who performs his duties without proper care or effort)

foot soldier; footslogger; infantryman; marcher (fights on foot with small arms)

guardsman (a soldier who is a member of a unit called 'the guard' or 'guards')

Instance hyponyms:

Lawrence; Lawrence of Arabia; T. E. Lawrence; Thomas Edward Lawrence (Welsh soldier who from 1916 to 1918 organized the Arab revolt against the Turks; he later wrote an account of his adventures (1888-1935))

Tancred (Norman leader in the First Crusade who played an important role in the capture of Jerusalem (1078-1112))

Jan Christian Smuts; Smuts (South African statesman and soldier (1870-1950))

Juan Domingo Peron; Peron (Argentine soldier who became president of Argentina (1895-1974))

Harry Hotspur; Hotspur; Percy; Sir Henry Percy (English soldier killed in a rebellion against Henry IV (1364-1403))

Daniel Morgan; Morgan (soldier in the American Revolution who defeated the British in the battle of Cowpens, South Carolina (1736-1802))

Mehemet Ali; Mohammed Ali; Muhammad Ali (Albanian soldier in the service of Turkey who was made viceroy of Egypt and took control away from the Ottoman Empire and established Egypt as a modern state (1769-1849))

Henry Lee; Lee; Lighthorse Harry Lee (soldier of the American Revolution (1756-1818))

La Fayette; Lafayette; Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier; Marquis de Lafayette (French soldier who served under George Washington in the American Revolution (1757-1834))

Kosciusko; Kosciuszko; Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko; Thaddeus Kosciusko (Polish patriot and soldier who fought with Americans in the American Revolution (1746-1817))

Higginson; Thomas Higginson; Thomas Wentworth Storrow Higginson (United States writer and soldier who led the first Black regiment in the Union Army (1823-1911))

Cyrano de Bergerac; Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac (a French soldier and dramatist remembered chiefly for fighting many duels (often over the size of his nose); was immortalized in 1897 in a play by Edmond Rostand (1619-1655))

Borgia; Cesare Borgia (Italian cardinal and military leader; model for Machiavelli's prince (1475-1507))

Bayard; Chevalier de Bayard; Pierre de Terrail; Pierre Terrail; Seigneur de Bayard (French soldier said to be fearless and chivalrous (1473-1524))

Allen; Ethan Allen (a soldier of the American Revolution whose troops helped capture Fort Ticonderoga from the British (1738-1789))

Derivation:

soldier (serve as a soldier in the military)

soldierly ((of persons) befitting a warrior)

soldiership (skills that are required for the life of soldier)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A wingless sterile ant or termite having a large head and powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

worker (sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae)

• SOLDIER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they soldier    ... he / she / it soldiers   
Past simple: soldiered   
Past participle: soldiered   
-ing form: soldiering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Serve as a soldier in the military

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "soldier" is one way to...):

pass; spend (use up a period of time in a specific way)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

soldier (an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army)

soldiering (skills that are required for the life of soldier)

soldiery (soldiers collectively)

 Context examples 

The soldiers, however, were set against the little tailor, and wished him a thousand miles away.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Many mile a day a-foot, and often with some poor soldier or another, travelling to see his friends.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I saved enough to bring me across, and then I came here where the soldiers are, for I know their ways and how to amuse them and so earn enough to keep me.

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

The soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothy and the other travelers had come back again, after destroying the Wicked Witch; but Oz made no reply.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

“The man’s career is that of an honourable soldier.”

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

They are soldier white men, and they take Yamikan away with them.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

It is something to have been an old soldier, but more still to have been a doctor.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But here are three strangers, and one, as I take it, a soldier fresh from service.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He is an old soldier and a most trustworthy man.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Nobody can wonder that men are soldiers and sailors.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)