marshal
Americannoun
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marshals
plural
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a military officer of the highest rank, as in the French and some other armies.
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an administrative officer of a U.S. judicial district who performs duties similar to those of a sheriff.
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a court officer serving processes, attending court, giving personal service to the judges, etc.
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the chief of a police or fire department in some cities.
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a police officer in some communities.
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a higher officer of a royal household or court.
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an official charged with the arrangement or regulation of ceremonies, parades, etc..
the marshal of the St. Patrick's Day parade.
verb (used with object)
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marshals,
present (3rd person singular)
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marshaled,
past participle, past
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marshalled,
past participle, past (especially British)
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marshaling,
present participle
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marshalling
present participle (especially British)
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to arrange in proper order; set out in an orderly manner; arrange clearly.
to marshal facts; to marshal one's arguments.
- Antonyms:
- scatter
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to array, as for battle.
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to usher or lead ceremoniously.
Their host marshaled them into the room.
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Heraldry. to combine (two or more coats of arms) on a single escutcheon.
noun
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(in some armies and air forces) an officer of the highest rank
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(in England) an officer, usually a junior barrister, who accompanies a judge on circuit and performs miscellaneous secretarial duties
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a Federal court officer assigned to a judicial district whose functions are similar to those of a sheriff
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(in some states) the chief police or fire officer
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an officer who organizes or conducts ceremonies, parades, etc
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Also called: knight marshal. (formerly in England) an officer of the royal family or court, esp one in charge of protocol
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an obsolete word for ostler
verb
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to arrange in order
to marshal the facts
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to assemble and organize (troops, vehicles, etc) prior to onward movement
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to arrange (assets, mortgages, etc) in order of priority
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to guide or lead, esp in a ceremonious way
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to combine (two or more coats of arms) on one shield
Synonym Usage
See gather.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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marshalcynoun
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marshalernoun
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marshallernoun
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marshalshipnoun
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submarshalnoun
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undermarshalnoun
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remarshalverb (used with object)
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unmarshaledadjective
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unmarshalledadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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marshalsimple
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marshalssimple
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have marshaledperfect
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have marshalledperfect
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has marshaledperfect
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has marshalledperfect
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am marshalingprogressive
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am marshallingprogressive
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are marshalingprogressive
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are marshallingprogressive
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is marshalingprogressive
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is marshallingprogressive
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have been marshalingperfect progressive
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have been marshallingperfect progressive
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has been marshalingperfect progressive
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has been marshallingperfect progressive
Past
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marshaledsimple
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marshalledsimple
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had marshaledperfect
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had marshalledperfect
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was marshalingprogressive
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was marshallingprogressive
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were marshalingprogressive
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were marshallingprogressive
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had been marshalingperfect progressive
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had been marshallingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of marshal
1225–75; Middle English marshal, syncopated variant of mareschal < Old French < Germanic; compare Old High German marahscalh groom, equivalent to marah horse ( see mare 1) + scalh servant, cognate with Old English scealc
Explanation
A federal marshal knocks on your door. You panic: a marshal is a law officer. What do you do? You marshal your thoughts, that is, put them in order. Marshal derives from the Old French mareschal, for stable officer. The stable officer had charge of the horses, tending to them, putting them in order, readying them for action. If you are a marshal, you're an officer. If you marshal yourself, you get yourself ready, preparing for action.
Vocabulary lists containing marshal
Content Summary G.1: Principles of Geography
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The Odyssey
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The Last Olympian
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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:
He said now we needed a letter from the fire marshal that our school building was safe for children.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
For the last 19 years, student-loan lender Sallie Mae has commissioned a study on how families marshal all the economic forces at their disposal to pay for college.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
He must marshal support for the policy choices he will make in the next two years and for the cost of the defense measures the situation requires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“This arrest demonstrates that time does not erase accountability,” Wing Chau, U.S. marshal for the District of Rhode Island, said in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
The fire marshal says we can’t fill this one up any more.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
A handful of cabinet-level figures in past decades have received a security detail from the marshals, a division of the Justice Department.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Yolanda Olejniczak Marodi was arrested in Mexicali on Saturday and handed over to U.S. marshals in San Diego, authorities say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
On Thursday, federal marshals in Miami took the Tates into custody.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
The introduction of water marshals to oversee terminals and prevent overloading has not yet made a difference.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
There were five hundred FBI special agents and a U.S. marshals special-ops team.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
New York City’s charismatic mayor, Zohran Mamdani, won his election as a DSA member in 2025 and has since marshaled political support for fellow progressives running for other offices in the city he runs.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
But rather than reacting rashly, he marshaled a tenacious defense, not losing his composure or allowing himself to be tempted into a hotheaded action that could have led to disaster.
From Slate ● Apr. 13, 2026
In a letter to Congress, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department marshaled a team of more than 200 lawyers to review materials for potential release.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025
Even the Treasury’s pivot toward heavier Treasury bill financing points to a world in which market structure, regulation, and innovation are quietly being marshaled to sustain an ever-larger debt load.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
He suggested that the combined resources of the attendees, using their clout to access research, publicity, and people with money, could be marshaled to defeat the worldwide menace of TB, one project at a time.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
In an opinion article written for the Financial Times last week, Bessent has cast the new measures as the “single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
For months, faith-based and secular groups there have marshalled thousands of volunteers to prepare for a potential mass deportation event they fear could result in a humanitarian crisis.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Tel was lively and hit the bar immediately after Igor Jesus' opener but faded in the second half with Forest's defence - expertly marshalled by Nikola Milenkovic - repelling everything.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
India were 161-2 in the 22nd over when the former captain was dismissed and run-scoring became more difficult in the middle overs but the hosts were superbly marshalled by Kohli.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
The indefatigable bell now sounded for the fourth time: the classes were marshalled and marched into another room to breakfast: how glad I was to behold a prospect of getting something to eat!
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
He wanted more of them and made his name marshaling often arcane data to win arguments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026
These fall upon the reader more as an unsifted data dump than as a focused marshaling of evidence in aid of human and psychological insight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
The initiative, described as the largest marshaling of federal scientific resources since Apollo, will require significant computing power.
From Barron's ● Nov. 24, 2025
“I’m just trying to understand what would motivate the officers ... to grab such a large number of people so quickly and without marshaling reasonable suspicion to detain,” said Judge Ronald M. Gould of Seattle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2025
Pulling it off was going to mean marshaling all his resources and making some very tough decisions.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
He is marshalling an inexperienced team and the lack of senior players has shown.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Trusty alone made 17 clearances and three interceptions, marshalling the depleted visitors to great effect.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
His only involvement for the rest of the day was marshalling his team in the field, often hunched over with hands on knees.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2025
Accurate CFRs are critically important in an outbreak because marshalling a public health response depends on understanding the disease’s severity.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2024
He knew, says Orderic, more about marshalling mailed knights than edifying psalm-singing clerks.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 6 "Geodesy" to "Geometry" 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.
