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:
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
Residents of the garrison town told AFP they feared being unable to obtain enough fuel if they suddenly need to evacuate.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
In Syria, US troops had already departed two bases earlier this year, the al Tanf garrison in southern Syria and the al Shaddadi base in the northeast.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
The storming of the Bastille reflected fear and miscalculation on both sides: Parisians feared its garrison and cannon would be used against them, while military officers felt vulnerable to mob attack.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
The drums will beat from here to Antium, alerting every guardhouse and garrison that I’ve escaped.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Firefighters expect to work all night as a fire blazes at the military barracks accommodation block in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
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
Janet Garrison, a dirt-bike-riding grandmother who taught information technology at the local community college, downloaded an app used by hunters to map the plots being acquired.
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
At an antislavery convention, William Lloyd Garrison confronted her.
From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling
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
It has a major military base in N’Djamena and smaller garrisons in the north and east.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2024
Russia's military presence in Armenia includes garrisons in two locations and an airbase.
From Reuters ● Oct. 25, 2023
Amari did see in the distance, however, occasional garrisons of soldiers the farther south they traveled.
From "Copper Sun" by Sharon M. Draper
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
“Deep Lake, Sable Hall, and the Long Barrow. All garrisoned with free folk, under the command of our own officers. The Long Barrow will be all women, aside from the commander and chief steward.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
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
They let the English invaders pass by, garrisoning the towns but abandoning the countryside.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 5 English History by Various
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.
