soldier

American  

[sohl-jer] / ˈsoʊl dʒər /

noun

1. a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.

2. an enlisted person, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.

   the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.

3. a person of military skill or experience.

   George Washington was a great soldier.

4. a person who contends or serves in any cause.

   a soldier of the Lord.

5. Also called button man.  Slang. a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.

6. Entomology.

   1. a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.

   2. a similar member of a caste of worker bees, specialized to protect the hive.

7. a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out.

8. Informal. a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to act or serve as a soldier.

2. Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger.

   He was soldiering on the job.

verb phrase

1. soldier on to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere.

   to soldier on until the work is done.

soldier British  

/ ˈsəʊldʒə /

noun

1. 1. a person who serves or has served in an army

   2. Also called: common soldier.  a noncommissioned member of an army as opposed to a commissioned officer

2. a person who works diligently for a cause

3. a low-ranking member of the Mafia or other organized crime ring

4. zoology

   1. an individual in a colony of social insects, esp ants, that has powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony, crushing large food particles, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      soldier ant

5. informal a strip of bread or toast that is dipped into a soft-boiled egg

---

verb

1. to serve as a soldier

2. obsolete to malinger or shirk

Other Word Forms

• nonsoldier noun
• soldiership noun

Etymology

Origin of soldier

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English souldiour, from Old French soudier, so(i)dier, equivalent to soulde “pay” (from Latin solidus; sol ² ) + -ier -ier ²

Example Sentences

President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year announced the deployment of 2,200 soldiers to five of the country's nine provinces hardest hit by criminal activities.

From BBC

Moscow has since granted soldiers a temporary waiver to continue using Telegram.

From The Wall Street Journal

Another soldier was severely wounded and a reservist moderately wounded, the IDF said.

From BBC

Decades later, America’s enemies feared not only its soldiers but its industrial strength.

From The Wall Street Journal

Chemaf’s founder, Shiraz Virji, son of a Zanzibar spice merchant, once hired dozens of Gurkhas, Nepalese soldiers with a reputation for fierceness, to guard one of the company’s mines against incursions by informal miners.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• commando
• fighter
• guard
• guerrilla
• marine
• mercenary
• officer
• paratrooper
• pilot
• trooper
• veteran
• volunteer