Meaning & use
troop
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Meanings
nouncountablemilitary
A group of soldiers, or a unit of cavalry or armored vehicles in an army.
Grammar: A single troop is a unit; the plural troops usually means soldiers in general: the troops arrived.
Patterns
- a troop of something
- send troops
The captain led a troop of cavalry across the river.
Thousands of troops were sent to guard the border.
The troops returned home after six months overseas.
nouncountable
An organized local group of young people, especially Scouts or Girl Scouts, that meets regularly under adult leaders.
Grammar: Takes a singular or plural verb in British English; American English prefers singular.
Patterns
- a Scout troop
- join a troop
- lead a troop
Our daughter's Scout troop meets every Tuesday evening.
The troop camped by the lake for the weekend.
He leads a troop of twelve eager young hikers.
nouncountable
A group of certain animals, especially monkeys or baboons, living or moving together.
Grammar: Used with of and the animal name: a troop of monkeys.
Patterns
- a troop of something
A troop of baboons crossed the road in front of the safari truck.
The researchers followed a troop of macaques for months.
A noisy troop of monkeys took the fruit from our picnic.
verbintransitive
To walk or move somewhere together as a group, often in a line or in large numbers.
Grammar: No object; followed by a direction word: they trooped into the hall.
Patterns
- troop in
- troop out
- troop into something
- troop past something
The students trooped into the gym for the assembly.
After the show, the audience trooped out slowly.
Tourists trooped through the old castle all afternoon.
Word forms
| plural | troops |
|---|---|
| third person singular | troops |
| past tense | trooped |
| past participle | trooped |
| -ing form | trooping |
Common combinations
- send in troops
- The government decided to send in troops to restore order.
- withdraw troops
- Both countries agreed to withdraw troops from the area.
- a Scout troop
- A Scout troop collected trash along the riverbank.
- troop movements
- Satellite images revealed unusual troop movements near the border.
- troop out
- The guests trooped out when the lights came on.
- rally the troops
- The manager tried to rally the troops before the big deadline.
Synonyms and how they differ
- soldiers
- Soldiers are individual members of an army, while troops always refers to them as a group.
- squad
- A squad is a small team with a shared task, whereas a troop can be larger and more formal.
- march
- As a verb, march implies stiff, disciplined steps, but troop can describe any group walking along in a loose line.
- file
- File suggests moving in a single orderly line, while troop stresses the group moving together.
Word family
- trooper noun
- a soldier, especially one in cavalry or armored units
- troopship noun
- a ship that carries soldiers
- troop carrier noun
- a vehicle or aircraft that transports soldiers
- trooping noun
- the act of moving as a group, as in trooping the colour
Commonly confused: troop or troupe?
troop vs troupe
A troupe is a group of performers such as actors or dancers, and is spelled differently from troop even though they sound the same.
Practice
A traveling company of circus performers is called a ___, not a troop.
Choose one answer.
Troupe is the spelling used for performers and sounds exactly like troop. Troop refers to soldiers or Scouts, and the other options do not name a group of performers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “troop”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.