Meaning & use
marshal
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Meanings
verbtransitive
To gather and organize people, ideas, or resources in an orderly way for a purpose.
Grammar: Takes an object: marshal your arguments. Often used with abstract nouns like support, evidence, forces.
Patterns
- marshal support
- marshal forces
- marshal arguments
- marshal resources
She marshaled all her arguments before the debate.
The government marshaled troops along the border.
He managed to marshal enough support to pass the new law.
nouncountable
An official who keeps order at events, enforces court orders, or leads a ceremony.
Grammar: Countable: a marshal, two marshals. Used in titles: Field Marshal, fire marshal.
Patterns
- a court marshal
- a fire marshal
- a parade marshal
The parade marshal led the procession down the main street.
A court marshal can seize property to enforce a judge's order.
Fire marshals inspected the building for safety violations.
Word forms
| third person singular | marshals |
|---|---|
| past tense | marshaled |
| past participle | marshaled |
| -ing form | marshaling |
| plural | marshals |
Common combinations
- marshal support
- The candidate worked hard to marshal support before the election.
- marshal forces
- The general marshaled his forces for the attack.
- marshal evidence
- The lawyer marshaled evidence to prove her case.
- fire marshal
- The fire marshal ordered the building to be closed.
- parade marshal
- The parade marshal waved the first group forward.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gather
- More general; gather can be physical or abstract, while marshal stresses orderly arrangement.
- assemble
- Often about people or parts; marshal is more about organizing for action.
- organize
- Close in meaning; organize is more everyday, marshal more formal.
- mobilize
- Often about troops or resources for a specific purpose; similar to marshal but more military.
Word family
- marshal noun
- The official, as in 'air marshal'.
- marshaling noun
- The act of organizing or assembling, as in 'the marshaling of facts'.
Commonly confused: marshal or martial? marshal or Marshall?
marshal vs martial
Means related to war or the army, as in 'martial law'. It sounds similar but has a different meaning.
marshal vs Marshall
A surname or place name, spelled with two Ls. The common noun and verb have one L.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'marshal' correctly?
Choose one answer.
The verb 'marshal' takes 'marshaled' in American English (one L). Option 2 uses 'martialed', which is not a word; option 3 uses British spelling 'marshalled' (two Ls), which is correct in British English but not in American; option 4 uses the base form instead of the past tense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “marshal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.