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sergeant

noun

Simple meaning

Any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sahrjuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsɑɹdʒənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. military

    Any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal

  2. military

    A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.

  3. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.

  4. An English barrister of the highest rank

  5. A servant in monastic offices.

  6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Athyma; distinct from the false sergeants.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal

Used this way, sergeant is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Military
  • Historical writing
  • News/reporting
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Several / army

police sergeantplatoon sergeantdetective sergeant

Other combinations

first sergeantstaff sergeantmaster sergeantdrill sergeantdesk sergeant

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • sergeant at armsnounCompound term

    An officer (as of a legislature or court) who maintains order and executes commands.

  • sergeant-at-lawnounCompound term

    An English barrister of the highest rank.

  • sergeant first classnounCompound term

    A sergeant in the Army above the rank of staff sergeant and below master sergeant.

  • sergeant fishnounCompound term

    Large dark-striped tropical food and game fish related to remoras.

  • sergeant majornounCompound term

    A noncommissioned officer serving as chief administrative officer of a headquarters unit of the Army.

  • color sergeantnounCompound term

    A sergeant in a color guard who carries one of the colors.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army

serjeantpolice sergeant

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.