soldier

[ sohl-jer ]
See synonyms for: soldiersoldiers on Thesaurus.com

noun
  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.

  1. a person of military skill or experience: George Washington was a great soldier.

  2. a person who contends or serves in any cause: a soldier of the Lord.

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

  4. Entomology.

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

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

  5. a brick laid vertically with the narrower long face out.: Compare rowlock (def. 2).

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

verb (used without object)
  1. to act or serve as a soldier.

  2. Informal. to loaf while pretending to work; malinger: He was soldiering on the job.

Verb Phrases
  1. soldier on, to persist steadfastly in one's work; persevere: to soldier on until the work is done.

Origin of soldier

1
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English souldiour, from Old French soudier, so(i)dier, equivalent to soulde “pay” (from Latin solidus; see sol2) + -ier -ier2

Other words from soldier

  • sol·dier·ship, noun
  • non·sol·dier, noun

Words Nearby soldier

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use soldier in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for soldier

soldier

/ (ˈsəʊldʒə) /


noun
    • a person who serves or has served in an army

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

  1. a person who works diligently for a cause

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

  2. zoology

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

    • (as modifier): soldier ant

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

verb(intr)
  1. to serve as a soldier

  2. obsolete, slang to malinger or shirk

Origin of soldier

1
C13: from Old French soudier, from soude (army) pay, from Late Latin solidus a gold coin, from Latin: firm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012