lance corporal
Americannoun
-
lance corporals
plural
-
U.S. Marine Corps. an enlisted person ranking between private first class and corporal.
-
British Military.
-
a corporal of the lowest rank.
-
(formerly) a private acting as corporal without increased pay.
-
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lance corporal
1780–90; lance, shortened form of earlier lancepesade < Middle French lancepessade lowest ranking grade of noncommissioned officer < Italian lancia spezzata superior soldier, literally, broken lance 1 (from having shivered many lances, i.e., fought well in many battles)
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.
It was Patton’s birthday weekend — the lance corporal had just turned 20 — so, according to his father, he decided to celebrate by going to a hip-hop show in Los Angeles with two friends.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2023
That was where she met her husband, George Puttock, a lance corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2022
During his time in the capital he was made lance corporal, then corporal, before being promoted to sergeant in 2019.
From Reuters ● Oct. 7, 2022
Marine Corps lance corporal stationed at a military base, according to court-martial records obtained by The Post.
From Washington Post ● May 5, 2022
He gives a whistle and the lance corporal returns, helmet in hand.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
