active duty

American  

noun

Military.

1. the status of full-time service.

   on active duty.

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active duty Idioms  

1. Full-time service, as in Julian is 81, but he still comes to the office every day and is very much on active duty. This term comes from the military, where it stands in opposition to reserve, which refers to troops still in the military but not actively engaged. It is occasionally transferred to civilian matters as well. [First half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

active duty

Reduced and free admission will be available to those receiving federal food assistance and active duty personnel.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

In the case of Iran that would entail deploying 1.9 million people — almost all the U.S. military’s active duty, reserve and National Guard personnel.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026

The Revolutionary Guard has an estimated 190,000 active duty personnel, or nearly 10 times the size of Hezbollah’s force before the 2024 Israeli offensive.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 2026

Some western estimates put its active duty contingent in the hundreds of thousands, still a very substantial total.

From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2026

The governor sent his sons to order the men back to active duty, but the soldiers refused to go.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby