warrior
Americannoun
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warriors
plural
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a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier.
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a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of warrior
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English werreieor, from Old North French; equivalent to war 1 + -or 2
Compare meaning
How does warrior compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Although logically linked with someone engaged in war, a warrior can be anyone who fights the good fight, whether in politics, on the job, or just as a "weekend warrior" trying to accomplish multiple tasks during off-hours at home. As the Old French guerre meant "war," it led to the word guerreor for someone who wages war. This eventually morphed into the word we know as warrior. The word can also refer to someone fighting a philosophical or political war. Author Carlos Castandeda said, "Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.” After ridding the kitchen of ants, you felt like a proud warrior.
Vocabulary lists containing warrior
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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:
Agrippa, a brilliant warrior on land, proves as formidable at sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Guna Maya Bohara's great-nephew, Dipak Bohara, has told BBC Nepali she looked like "a warrior" who had returned victorious from battle.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Ellen White: Bruno gives them something different again because he is so tenacious, an absolute warrior.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
“The warrior ethos shouldn’t have to include bravely facing water contamination. ... Even warfighters need basic care.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Ben reads aloud the story of the great warrior king Gilgamesh, son of gods.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
The most electable progressives are instead happy warriors, a quality Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have in spades.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
The cannibalistic Laestrygonians become towering armored warriors, while other episodes are combined or radically re-imagined, with characters and storylines invented from whole cloth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Reduced to 10 men following the sending off of Jarell Quansah, the old script would have seen England knocked out as brave warriors.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
If weekend warriors can’t slay zombies on a dystopian battlefield, at least they can massacre dandelions in their backyards.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
I had earned my place in the brotherhood of warriors and could take part in community decisions.
From "Facing the Lion" by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and Herman Viola
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.
