lance corporal
Americannoun
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U.S. Marine Corps. an enlisted person ranking between private first class and corporal.
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British Military.
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a corporal of the lowest rank.
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(formerly) a private acting as corporal without increased pay.
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noun
Etymology
Origin of lance corporal
1780–90; lance, shortened form of earlier lancepesade < Middle French lancepessade lowest ranking grade of noncommissioned officer < Italian lancia spezzata superior soldier, literally, broken lance 1 (from having shivered many lances, i.e., fought well in many battles)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He enlisted in May 2022 and was promoted to lance corporal in August 2024.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2025
Donovan Davis, 21, of Olathe, Kansas, who was just promoted to the rank of lance corporal on New Year’s Day.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 9, 2024
During his time in the capital he was made lance corporal, then corporal, before being promoted to sergeant in 2019.
From Reuters • Oct. 7, 2022
With military conscription looming, he chose in 1960 to enlist in the Marines, emerging in 1962 as a lance corporal.
From New York Times • Jun. 18, 2022
The lance corporal looks around the room—the coal stove, the hanging laundry, the undersize children—with equal measures of condescension and hostility.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
