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battalion

American  
[buh-tal-yuhn] / bəˈtæl yən /

noun

  1. Military. a ground force unit composed of a headquarters and two or more companies or similar units.

  2. an army in battle array.

  3. Often battalions. a large number of persons or things; force.

    battalions of bureaucrats.
battalion British  
/ bəˈtæljən /

noun

  1. a military unit comprised of three or more companies or formations of similar size

  2. (usually plural) any large array

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • subbattalion noun

Etymology

Origin of battalion

1580–90; < Middle French bataillon < Italian battaglione large squadron of soldiers, equivalent to battagli ( a ) battalia ( def. ) + -one augmentative suffix

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.