garrison
noun
a body of troops stationed in a fortified place.
garrison
1 American
[gar-uh-suhn]
/ ˈgær ə sən /
noun
-
garrisons
plural
-
a body of troops stationed in a fortified place.
-
the place where such troops are stationed.
-
any military post, especially a permanent one.
verb (used with object)
-
garrisons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
garrisoned,
past participle, past
-
garrisoning
present participle
-
to provide (a fort, town, etc.) with a garrison.
-
to occupy (a fort, post, station, etc.) with troops.
-
to put (troops) on duty in a fort, post, station, etc.
Garrison
2
American
[gar-uh-suhn]
/ ˈgær ə sən /
noun
garrison
British
/ ˈɡærɪsən /
noun
-
the troops who maintain and guard a base or fortified place
-
-
the place itself
-
( as modifier )
a garrison town
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
garrisonsimple
-
garrisonssimple
-
have garrisonedperfect
-
has garrisonedperfect
-
am garrisoningprogressive
-
are garrisoningprogressive
-
is garrisoningprogressive
-
have been garrisoningperfect progressive
-
has been garrisoningperfect progressive
Past
-
garrisonedsimple
-
had garrisonedperfect
-
was garrisoningprogressive
-
were garrisoningprogressive
-
had been garrisoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of garrison
1250–1300; Middle English garisoun protection, stronghold < Old French garison, gareison defense, provision, derivative of garir, guerir to defend < Germanic; compare Old High German warjan
Explanation
A garrison most often refers to a military outpost where troops are stationed to provide protection to an area. The word garrison is also used to refer to the troops stationed there. Garrison is from the Old French verb garir, meaning "defend, protect" is of Germanic origin, so you can see where the noun garrison gets its sense of a stronghold of defense. A great example is Hadrian's Wall, completed in 128 A.D. by the Roman emperor Hadrian. The wall was built across Scotland to protect settlements to the south from invaders, and it was dotted with around two dozen forts that could each hold a garrison of 500 soldiers.
Vocabulary lists containing garrison
The Emancipation Proclamation (1862)
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My Brother Sam is Dead
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The Articles of Confederation (1777)
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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:
On Sunday, the group said it seized Turbah, a garrison town that lies on the sole supply route linking Taiz to Aden, a key port on the Arabian Sea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Historical records indicate that a small military garrison was stationed at the mission after British attacks on missions became more frequent in the early 1700s.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Having just six weeks ago fled the garrison city of Kramatorsk in the east, under intense Russian pressure, she is not worried about the heatwave.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
Pakistan's Information Minister Atta Tarar said its military thwarted Afghan drones targeting Swabi, Nowshera and Abbottabad, which is a military garrison city housing the army's military academy.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
‘What think you of the garrison at Osgiliath?’
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Col Samantha Shepherd has been on trial at Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, in connection with the handling of concerns raised by Gunner Jaysley Beck, from Cumbria.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Garrison called local TV stations and set up interviews with sick senior citizens who live in the park.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
“You don’t just go somewhere and get a prescription and put it in your cabinet,” said Nancy Berlinger, senior research scholar at the Hastings Center for Bioethics in Garrison, N.Y.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 20, 2026
Longtime radio personalities Evelyn Erives, Nick Nack and Garrison King were all cut from the Inland Empire station last week as part of iHeartMedia’s latest round of national layoffs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
As Garrison Griswold hovered on the brink of consciousness, he wasn’t worried about when help would arrive.
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Those shown deploying in coastal areas, he said, were already stationed in garrisons nearby.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Since 2019, soldiers have shut down some smaller army bases and moved into larger, fortified garrisons known as "super camps" in an attempt to better resist militant attacks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 11, 2025
Last week the RSF captured desert garrisons on the border with Libya held by the Joint Forces.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025
Russia's military presence in Armenia includes garrisons in two locations and an airbase.
From Reuters ● Oct. 25, 2023
Hoarfrost Hill and Rimegate still lacked garrisons, so Jon had asked their views on which of the remaining wildling chiefs and war lords might be best suited to hold them.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
At any given time through the 1980s, nearly 300,000 U.S. forces would have been garrisoned in around 900 sites, ranging from airfields to communications outposts and housing complexes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
A dramatic musical score—like something out of a Marvel movie—plays loudly over clips of officers entering the windows of the garrisoned building, climbing on their laddered megatruck, and breaking the locks to the doors.
From Slate ● May 4, 2024
When microbes try to invade our body through the nose or mouth, they have to get past the tonsils, lumps of tissue garrisoned by immune cells that help fight off the intruders.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 31, 2023
And we went to the home community in western Ukraine where the brigade was garrisoned before the war, and where many of its families still live.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2023
Now the watch-towers, which had fallen into decay, were repaired, and filled with arms, and garrisoned with ceaseless vigilance.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
His father, a retired navy man, spent a year in the 1970s garrisoning Philippine-occupied Thitu Island.
From Washington Times ● May 2, 2023
I am not saying that garrisoning South Vietnam with ground troops would have made the war a sensible enterprise.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2021
One source, the Chandos Herald, says there were 300 men garrisoning the town.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2014
All have stepped up sea and air patrols as well as garrisoning isolated atolls and floating patrol bases.
From Reuters ● Oct. 1, 2012
At this time the left wing of the 2nd West India Regiment was garrisoning the two latter colonies, and the 1st West India Regiment was to garrison the two former.
From The History of the First West India Regiment by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis
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