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)
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
My Brother Sam is Dead
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Articles of Confederation (1777)
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
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
Foreign diplomats and dignitaries have long seen a meeting with the military chief in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near the capital to be a key item on their schedules.
From Barron's ● Apr. 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 garrison at Al Tanf sits in southern Syria along the highway between Baghdad and Damascus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Such a large and likely lad drew the eye of old Lord Caswell, who offered him a place in his garrison, but the boy had wanted more.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“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
In 1836, William Lloyd Garrison, the antislavery crusader, sat for a cranial exam with the brothers Lorenzo and Orson Fowler, but opted to conceal his identity from the pair of phrenologists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
L/Cpl Ryan Rudd, 28, was last seen in the early hours of 15 February on a night out at the New Inn in Selby and did not return to his barracks at Catterick Garrison.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Other American paragons of virtue who were publicly opposed at the time: William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Douglass.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
“Then Garrison planned this cockamamie game without consulting me. You know what he said when I called him on it?”
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Japan has installed missiles, radar, garrisons and electronic-warfare systems on the islands to protect the archipelago amid intensifying Chinese military activity in the East China Sea and—potentially—to play a role in any defense of Taiwan.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
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
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 comprised two classes, the one devoted exclusively to garrisoning towns and castles, the other distributed throughout the country.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" 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.
