troop
Americannoun
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troops
plural
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an assemblage of persons or things; company; band.
-
a great number or multitude.
A whole troop of children swarmed through the museum.
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Military. an armored cavalry or cavalry unit consisting of two or more platoons and a headquarters group.
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troops, a body of soldiers, police, etc..
Mounted troops quelled the riot.
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a single soldier, police officer, etc..
Three troops were killed today by a roadside bomb.
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a unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts usually having a maximum of 32 members under the guidance of an adult leader.
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a herd, flock, or swarm.
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Archaic. a band or troupe of actors.
verb (used without object)
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troops,
present (3rd person singular)
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trooped,
past participle, past
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trooping
present participle
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to gather in a company; flock together.
- Synonyms:
- collect
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to come, go, or pass in great numbers; throng.
- Synonyms:
- swarm
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to walk, as if in a march; go.
to troop down to breakfast.
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to walk, march, or pass in rank or order.
The students trooped into the auditorium.
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to associate or consort (usually followed bywith ).
verb (used with object)
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troops,
present (3rd person singular)
-
trooped,
past participle, past
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trooping
present participle
-
British Military. to carry (the flag or colors) in a ceremonial way before troops.
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Obsolete. to assemble or form into a troop or troops.
noun
-
a large group or assembly; flock
a troop of children
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a subdivision of a cavalry squadron or artillery battery of about platoon size
-
(plural) armed forces; soldiers
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a large group of Scouts comprising several patrols
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an archaic spelling of troupe
verb
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(intr) to gather, move, or march in or as if in a crowd
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(tr) military to parade (the colour or flag) ceremonially
trooping the colour
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slang (tr) military (formerly) to report (a serviceman) for a breach of discipline
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(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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
troopsimple
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troopssimple
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have troopedperfect
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has troopedperfect
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am troopingprogressive
-
are troopingprogressive
-
is troopingprogressive
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have been troopingperfect progressive
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has been troopingperfect progressive
Past
-
troopedsimple
-
had troopedperfect
-
was troopingprogressive
-
were troopingprogressive
-
had been troopingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing troop
Veterans Day Vocabulary
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Memorial Day: Words of Respect and Remembrance
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Commonly Confused Words, List 2
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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:
Honshu, who escaped two years ago, was part of a troop of 37 animals at the park.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
The Biden administration later reached a five-year cost-sharing agreement under which Seoul contributes roughly 1.52 trillion won—about $1.1 billion—toward the U.S. troop presence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Papperger said he expected the deal to be around 12.4 billion for the vehicles, primarily used as troop transports, and an additional service contract.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
After a briefing in a nearby car park, we troop down to the water's edge clutching white plastic buckets to begin the hunt.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
In late afternoon, shouts in the forest told Nhamo the baboon troop was on its way to the cliff.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Legal experts say such a move would probably be swiftly blocked by courts, as would any unlawful deployment of military troops to polls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026
Now, the crackdown has reached a news organization created specifically to serve American troops and their families.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026
In December, Poland and Germany revealed that a number of German troops would be deployed from mid-2026 until the end of 2027 to support Eastern Shield.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The Canadian Department for Defense banned its troops from working there in 2018.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
German troops advanced to within four miles of Verdun, but as French resistance stiffened, the Germans were halted and could not push their positions forward.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
He then conducted an inspection of the troops and the colour of the regiment was then "trooped", or carried, through the ranks of foot guards.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
Many of crypto’s biggest players trooped to Abu Dhabi last week, hoping to secure deals with deep-pocketed Emirati investors who could inject fresh vigor into the industry following two months in the doldrums.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
Soon, their third-grade “reading buddies” trooped in from a classroom down the hall, and the group settled in to make some art.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
Women vendors at a marketplace close to the bar chatted away as customers trooped in to buy vegetables for supper.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2023
Near the quarry, the dirt road diverged, and to the right the general prisoners trooped off to the rock quarry.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
"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
People begin trooping in and it fills with 30 or so people.
From BBC ● Dec. 16, 2023
“Imagine my bewilderment in New York last week when I noticed that the fashion tribe trooping round the shows had their hands free,” she wrote.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 31, 2023
Then we were trooping to the staff elevator.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
