soldier
Americannoun
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a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.
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an enlisted person, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.
the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.
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a person of military skill or experience.
George Washington was a great soldier.
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a person who contends or serves in any cause.
a soldier of the Lord.
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Also called button man. Slang. a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.
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Entomology.
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a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.
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a similar member of a caste of worker bees, specialized to protect the hive.
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a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out.
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Informal. a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.
verb (used without object)
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to act or serve as a soldier.
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Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger.
He was soldiering on the job.
verb phrase
noun
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a person who serves or has served in an army
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Also called: common soldier. a noncommissioned member of an army as opposed to a commissioned officer
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a person who works diligently for a cause
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a low-ranking member of the Mafia or other organized crime ring
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zoology
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an individual in a colony of social insects, esp ants, that has powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony, crushing large food particles, etc
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( as modifier )
soldier ant
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informal a strip of bread or toast that is dipped into a soft-boiled egg
verb
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to serve as a soldier
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obsolete to malinger or shirk
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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soldiersimple
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soldierssimple
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have soldieredperfect
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has soldieredperfect
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am soldieringprogressive
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are soldieringprogressive
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is soldieringprogressive
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have been soldieringperfect progressive
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has been soldieringperfect progressive
Past
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soldieredsimple
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had soldieredperfect
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was soldieringprogressive
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were soldieringprogressive
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had been soldieringperfect progressive
Future
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; see sol 2) + -ier -ier 2
Explanation
In a war, soldiers are the people who do the fighting, on the ground, in planes, or from boats. Soldier is also a verb that means to serve in the military, or to continue on through difficult times. What is an army without soldiers? It’s a bunch of guns on the ground. A soldier is the man or woman who fights for their government and carries the weapons, risking their life in the process. The word comes from the Latin solidus, which is the name of the gold coin used to pay soldiers who fought in the Roman army. To “soldier on” means to not give up even when life is tough, like soldiering on through difficult vocabulary.
Vocabulary lists containing soldier
Unit 1: Telling Details
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Occupations
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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.
See Examples For:
Another soldier in Izium, nicknamed "Ananas", also told AFP he was pleased to see the back of Syrsky, who was known for military success but also developed a reputation for not caring about losses.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
“We have come a long way, the defense of Ukraine continues, and every soldier deserves to be treated with respect,” Zelensky said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
Nolan reinvents him as a naive young soldier left outside the horse to sell Odysseus’ deception.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
President Donald Trump warned Iran it would pay "many times over" for every US soldier it killed after Washington announced over the weekend three new military fatalities and one service member missing in action.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
He was dressed in the uniform of a British soldier, his bright red jacket neat and pressed over tight-fitting pants and high black boots.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
When a string of Russian strikes on military training grounds last year killed 12 Ukrainian soldiers, the general who commanded them did something unusual: He took responsibility and resigned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Before being dismissed, Syrskiy said he had elevated innovative young soldiers to top positions and that some changes to the military were the purview of the defense ministry, not his staff.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
He thanked the president, but said there were "only three positions in the state - in addition to soldiers on the battlefield - which determine the course of the war: president, defence minister and commander-in-chief".
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
But it is debatable how many human soldiers you need these days and Woodburn said a new era of autonomous lethal weaponry was close at hand.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The soldiers in their long leather coats, rifles by their sides.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“Even during the depths of Covid, those Hot Pockets soldiered on.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
But I gamely soldiered back into the sunlight and onto the pathways that line the National Mall, each ginger step kicking up dust.
From Slate ● Jun. 5, 2026
Hulu may have wagered that “Killer of Killers” was too brutal for academy voters, but I kinda wish it had followed “KPop’s” lead and soldiered ahead with giving this streaming-only film a for-consideration theatrical release.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
Meanwhile, the artificial-intelligence boom soldiered on, with strong performance spreading well beyond members of the “Magnificent Seven.”
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 31, 2025
"It was rough on morale, but we soldiered on. Besides, he won't die."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
In the two months since the Strait of Hormuz was closed, many of the world’s major economies have been soldiering on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
That is not the case in the United States anymore, but our financial markets had been soldiering on anyway.
From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2025
An accomplished journalist for a New Yorker-style publication with a specialty in culture and race, he’s a lapsed Muslim, unattached and mourning his late father but soldiering on.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2025
"He might have his moments but right now he is still soldiering on," Jonas said.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025
“That’s better. It’s time to review your soldiering lessons.”
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
