Meaning & use
soldier
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Meanings
nouncountablemilitary
A member of an army, especially an ordinary one rather than an officer.
Grammar: Has a plural: soldiers.
Patterns
- a soldier in something
The soldier saluted as the general entered.
Thousands of soldiers marched through the capital.
Her grandfather was a soldier in the last war.
nouncountablefigurative
A person who works steadily and loyally for a cause, group or movement.
Grammar: Used figuratively: a soldier for peace.
Patterns
- a soldier for something
She was a loyal soldier for the union all her life.
The volunteers are the real soldiers of the campaign.
Every good soldier of the party handed out leaflets.
verbphrasal verb
To keep going with a task or duty in spite of difficulty, tiredness or discouragement.
Grammar: Almost always soldier on: she soldiered on despite the pain.
Patterns
- soldier on
- soldier on with something
Despite the cold, the band soldiered on with the concert.
He soldiered on with his work although he felt unwell.
The team soldiered on after losing their best player.
nouncountablebiology
A worker ant or termite that defends the colony, with large jaws.
Grammar: Used in biology; compare with a worker.
Patterns
- a soldier ant
A soldier ant guarded the entrance to the nest.
Soldiers in the termite colony have large heads and strong jaws.
Word forms
| plural | soldiers |
|---|---|
| third person singular | soldiers |
| past tense | soldiered |
| -ing form | soldiering |
Common combinations
- soldier on
- She decided to soldier on despite the setbacks.
- professional soldier
- He was a professional soldier for twenty years.
- fallen soldier
- The monument honors every fallen soldier.
- toy soldier
- The boy lined up his toy soldiers on the shelf.
- soldier of fortune
- The novel follows a soldier of fortune in far-off lands.
Synonyms and how they differ
- serviceman
- Serviceman is a broader term for anyone in the armed forces, including the navy and air force, while soldier means the army.
- trooper
- Trooper usually refers to a cavalry or armored soldier, or a state police officer in the US.
- warrior
- Warrior is a more dramatic or historical word for a fighter and does not require formal military membership.
- private
- Private is the lowest army rank, so it names a specific soldier of no rank, not soldiers in general.
Opposites
Word family
- soldierly adjective
- typical of a good soldier
- soldiering noun
- the life or work of a soldier
- soldiery noun
- soldiers as a group
- soldier on phrasal verb
- to keep going despite difficulty
Commonly confused: soldier or solder? soldier or sailor?
soldier vs solder
Solder is a soft metal melted to join wires and metal parts, and the l is silent in the usual American pronunciation, so it can sound like soldier without the end.
soldier vs sailor
A sailor serves in a navy or on ships, while a soldier belongs to an army.
Practice
The singer had a bad cold but decided to ______ through the whole concert.
Choose one answer.
Soldier on means keep going despite difficulty. Giving in, backing out and calling off all mean stopping or cancelling, which is the opposite of the singer's choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “soldier”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.