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Synonyms

guard duty

American  

noun

  1. a military assignment involving watching over or protecting a person or place or supervising prisoners.


Etymology

Origin of guard duty

First recorded in 1890–95

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:

Jonathan Romain, the former rabbi of Maidenhead synagogue in Berkshire, now regularly spends his Shabbat mornings standing outside it on guard duty.

From BBC ● May 2, 2026

Pereira had finished his shift on guard duty at Fort Tiuna, where Maduro was sheltered that night.

From Barron's ● Jan. 19, 2026

He pulls long shifts of guard duty in the city center and still lives with his family in a working class Damascus suburb.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025

He has his morning cup of coffee out there while Daisy sniffs around, works her guard duty shifts, and takes in the million-dollar view, which stretches all the way to Santa Catalina Island.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2025

She’d spent a dreadful night in the bathroom making sounds like a sea lion, but now that she was feeling better she was coming to relieve Martina from guard duty.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

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