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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

soldier.

A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈsəʊld͡ʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɒld͡ʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/General-American
  1. A member of a ground-based army, of any rank, but especially an enlisted member.

    countable
    My friends and I saw a soldier questioning a man holding a bag with a gun in his pocket.
  2. Any member of a military, regardless of specialty.

    broadly · countable · nonstandard
  3. An enlisted member of a military service, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.

    countable · formal
    She saw a soldier while collecting her baggage at the airport.
  4. A guardsman.

  5. A member of the Salvation Army.

  6. A low-ranking gangster or member of a gang, especially the mafia, who engages in physical conflict.

  7. A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip for dipping into a soft-boiled egg.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK
  8. A term of approbation for a young boy.

  9. Someone who fights or toils well.

    countable · figuratively
  10. A red or cuckoo gurnard (Chelidonichthys cuculus).

  11. One of the asexual polymorphic forms of termites, in which the head and jaws are very large and strong. The soldiers serve to defend the nest.

  12. A red herring (cured kipper with flesh turned red).

    dated · slang
  13. A xiangqi piece that moves and captures by advancing one point. Once it has crossed the river, it may also move and capture one point horizontally.

  14. A brick, for example in a course of brickwork, that is laid vertically on its shortest end (smallest face), so that its tallest and slimmest face faces the outside of the wall.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp). (red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".

verb/ˈsəʊld͡ʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsɒld͡ʒə/Received-Pronunciation/ˈsoʊld͡ʒɚ/General-American
  1. To continue steadfast; to keep striving.

    intransitive
  2. To serve as a soldier.

    intransitive
  3. To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished.

    intransitive
  4. To take a ride on (another person's horse) without permission.

    slang · transitive
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English soudeour, from Old French soudier or soudeour (“mercenary”), from Medieval Latin soldarius (“soldier (one having pay)”), from Late Latin solidus, a type of coin. Displaced Old English cempa (whence obsolete kemp). (red herring): An allusion to soldiers' red uniforms; red herring is, reciprocally, a slang term for "soldier".

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.