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soldier

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A member of the Salvation Army.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

sohljer

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsoʊldʒɚ

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. A member of the Salvation Army.

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

  3. An enlisted member of a military service, as distinguished from a commissioned officer.

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

  5. 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.

  6. BritishAustraliaIrelandNew Zealand

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

verb

  1. intransitive

    To continue steadfast; to keep striving.

  2. intransitive

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

  3. transitiveslang

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

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A member of the Salvation Army.

Used this way, soldier 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.

More ways to use soldier

  • “The soldiers stood at attention.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

common soldieryoung soldiergood soldieramerican soldierbritish soldierprivate soldierprofessional soldierbrave soldier

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • soldier of fortunenounCompound term

    A person hired to fight for another country than their own.

  • soldier grainy clubnounCompound term

    A variety of grainy club.

  • soldiers of godnounCompound term

    An Islamic extremist group of Kurds who oppose secular control with bombings and assassinations.

  • soldier-fishnounCompound term

    The larger squirrelfishes.

  • foot soldiernounCompound term

    Fights on foot with small arms.

  • shipboard soldiernounCompound term

    A member of the United States Marine Corps.

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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.