troop

American  

[troop] / trup /

noun

• troops
  plural

1. an assemblage of persons or things; company; band.

   Synonyms:

   crowd, group, body

2. a great number or multitude.

   A whole troop of children swarmed through the museum.

   Synonyms:

   throng, swarm, flock, herd, crowd

3. Military. an armored cavalry or cavalry unit consisting of two or more platoons and a headquarters group.

4. troops, a body of soldiers, police, etc..

   Mounted troops quelled the riot.

5. a single soldier, police officer, etc..

   Three troops were killed today by a roadside bomb.

6. a unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts usually having a maximum of 32 members under the guidance of an adult leader.

7. a herd, flock, or swarm.

8. Archaic. a band or troupe of actors.

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verb (used without object)

• troops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trooped,
  past participle,  past
• trooping
  present participle

1. to gather in a company; flock together.

   Synonyms:

   collect

2. to come, go, or pass in great numbers; throng.

   Synonyms:

   swarm

3. to walk, as if in a march; go.

   to troop down to breakfast.

4. to walk, march, or pass in rank or order.

   The students trooped into the auditorium.

5. to associate or consort (usually followed bywith ).

verb (used with object)

• troops,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trooped,
  past participle,  past
• trooping
  present participle

1. British Military. to carry (the flag or colors) in a ceremonial way before troops.

2. Obsolete. to assemble or form into a troop or troops.

troop British  

/ truːp /

noun

1. a large group or assembly; flock

   a troop of children

2. a subdivision of a cavalry squadron or artillery battery of about platoon size

3. (plural) armed forces; soldiers

4. a large group of Scouts comprising several patrols

5. an archaic spelling of troupe

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verb

1. (intr) to gather, move, or march in or as if in a crowd

2. (tr) military to parade (the colour or flag) ceremonially

   trooping the colour

3. slang (tr) military (formerly) to report (a serviceman) for a breach of discipline

4. (intr) an archaic word for consort

Synonym Usage

See company. Troop, troupe both mean a band, company, or group. Troop has various meanings as indicated in the definitions above. With the spelling troupe the word has the specialized meaning of a company of actors, singers, acrobats, or other performers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intertroop
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• troops
  plural

Participles

• trooping
  present
• trooped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• troop
  simple
• troops
  simple
• have trooped
  perfect
• has trooped
  perfect
• am trooping
  progressive
• are trooping
  progressive
• is trooping
  progressive
• have been trooping
  perfect progressive
• has been trooping
  perfect progressive

Past

• trooped
  simple
• had trooped
  perfect
• was trooping
  progressive
• were trooping
  progressive
• had been trooping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will troop
  simple
• will have trooped
  perfect
• will be trooping
  progressive
• will have been trooping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of troop

First recorded in 1535–45; from French troupe, Old French trope, probably back formation from tropel “herd, flock” ( French troupeau ), equivalent to trop- (from Germanic; see thorp) + -el, ultimately from Latin -ellus diminutive suffix

Explanation

A troop is a squad or team of soldiers. Your great grandfather might claim that his was the first army troop to march into France during World War II. Though it's correct to use the noun troop in the singular form, it's more common to see its plural, troops. You can also refer to a group of Girl or Boy Scouts this way: "My troop won a prize for selling the most Girl Scout cookies this year." To troop is also to march, so a military troop might troop down the street in the Veteran's Day parade. The root word is the Old French trope, "band of people."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

troop troops trooped trooping

The Hindenburg lifted off shortly after 7 p.m., saluted by a brass band playing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” and cheered by a large crowd, including a Hitler Youth troop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Though Jason and his Argonauts get top billing in the 1963 B-movie classic, it’s Ray Harryhausen’s sword-wielding troop of the undead that steal the show.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

While diplomatic gaps remain, Abuja has found common ground with Washington in increasing military cooperation, including with a US troop deployment to Nigeria and a major joint operation against Islamic State fighters in May.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

The US is considering ways to maintain some security support in both Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan after the troop withdrawal, the sources said.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

There, gathered at the edge, was a troop of twenty young women and twenty young men, and standing on a rock above them was a beautiful woman.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

South Korea's spy agency estimated last year that around 2,000 North Korean troops had been killed in the war, while a more recent assessment put the number killed or wounded at around 6,000.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

Army, that small discovery underscored the urgency of his efforts to supply troops with the books that meant so much to them.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

It is home to several US military bases and tens of thousands of American troops.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Okinawa is home to several US military bases and tens of thousands of American troops.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

About three hundred troops and eight hundred Filipino guerrillas charge into the camp.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Each year, a different regiment's colours are trooped, with this year's being the Grenadier Guards.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

After some cheese and crackers and forced bonhomie, we all trooped back to our desks and then commuted home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025

But he has fond memories of the looks on his kids’ faces as they trooped into his little dungeon to kiss him good night.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2024

The colour, or regimental flag, which was trooped in the ceremony belongs to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.

From Reuters ● Jun. 17, 2023

As I sat beside Harry, under the withering gaze of Sergeant Caputo, crime-scene investigators trooped through the private entranceway that very few New Yorkers had ever seen, even in photographs.

From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson

"People are trooping to the Hakimpur border check-post since Tuesday after hearing that crossover to Bangladesh is possible from this outpost," senior state police official Subrata Saha told AFP at the site.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

The heads of global banks have been trooping through, visiting its stock exchanges, buying property and hiring new staff.

From New York Times ● May 31, 2024

It was a seemingly endless succession of “Succession” winners trooping to the stage on a final triumphant night for the HBO drama.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 16, 2024

"It's not a great start to the morning I'm not going to lie, but what can you do?" she asks before trooping off in the direction of the bus stop.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2022

“Inverted snobbery, more like. I simply don’t see any good reason for our trooping off to partake of the bounty of the Lady of the Manor. We’re perfecdy all right here.”

From "The Dark is Rising" by Susan Cooper

Related Words

• armed forces
• army
• contingent
• forces
• military
• soldiers