soldier

American  

[sohl-jer] / ˈsoʊl dʒər /

noun

soldiers plural

1. a person who serves in an army; a person engaged in military service.

2. an enlisted person, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.

   the soldiers' mess and the officers' mess.

3. a person of military skill or experience.

   George Washington was a great soldier.

4. a person who contends or serves in any cause.

   a soldier of the Lord.

5. Also called button man.  Slang. a low-ranking member of a crime organization or syndicate.

6. Entomology.

   1. a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped female ants or termites specialized, as with powerful jaws, to defend the colony from invaders.

   2. a similar member of a caste of worker bees, specialized to protect the hive.

7. a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out.

8. Informal. a person who avoids work or pretends to work; loafer; malingerer.

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verb (used without object)

soldiers, present (3rd person singular) soldiered, past participle, past soldiering present participle

1. to act or serve as a soldier.

2. Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger.

   He was soldiering on the job.

verb phrase

1. soldier on to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere.

   to soldier on until the work is done.

soldier British  

/ ˈsəʊldʒə /

noun

1. 1. a person who serves or has served in an army

   2. Also called: common soldier.  a noncommissioned member of an army as opposed to a commissioned officer

2. a person who works diligently for a cause

3. a low-ranking member of the Mafia or other organized crime ring

4. zoology

   1. an individual in a colony of social insects, esp ants, that has powerful jaws adapted for defending the colony, crushing large food particles, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      soldier ant

5. informal a strip of bread or toast that is dipped into a soft-boiled egg

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verb

1. to serve as a soldier

2. obsolete to malinger or shirk

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonsoldier
  noun
• soldiership
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• soldiers
  plural

Participles

• soldiering
  present
• soldiered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• soldier
  simple
• soldiers
  simple
• have soldiered
  perfect
• has soldiered
  perfect
• am soldiering
  progressive
• are soldiering
  progressive
• is soldiering
  progressive
• have been soldiering
  perfect progressive
• has been soldiering
  perfect progressive

Past

• soldiered
  simple
• had soldiered
  perfect
• was soldiering
  progressive
• were soldiering
  progressive
• had been soldiering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will soldier
  simple
• will have soldiered
  perfect
• will be soldiering
  progressive
• will have been soldiering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of soldier

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English souldiour, from Old French soudier, so(i)dier, equivalent to soulde “pay” (from Latin solidus; see sol ²) + -ier -ier ²

Explanation

In a war, soldiers are the people who do the fighting, on the ground, in planes, or from boats. Soldier is also a verb that means to serve in the military, or to continue on through difficult times. What is an army without soldiers? It’s a bunch of guns on the ground. A soldier is the man or woman who fights for their government and carries the weapons, risking their life in the process. The word comes from the Latin solidus, which is the name of the gold coin used to pay soldiers who fought in the Roman army. To “soldier on” means to not give up even when life is tough, like soldiering on through difficult vocabulary.

Example Sentences

A video circulating on social media shows a man expelling a soldier and another official from his home after finding them scavenging around.

From Barron's • Jun. 28, 2026

Desperate to track down the traitor who sold him and his comrades out, the super soldier is accompanied by three killed-in-action squad mates, whose personalities have been stored in his gun, helmet and backpack.

From BBC • Jun. 25, 2026

My eyes watered as the camera panned over his arm-in-arm players as they shouted the line, “Think, o beloved homeland! That heaven/gave you a soldier in each son.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2026

Last year, one soldier managed to cross by barely moving during the day and taking cover under the bushes until he was close enough to the South that troops could guide him across.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 24, 2026

He must have come to help the soldier.

From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler

Related Words

• commando
• fighter
• guard
• guerrilla
• marine
• mercenary
• officer
• paratrooper
• pilot
• trooper
• veteran
• volunteer