veteran
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
An experienced person who has been through many battles.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vehteruhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɛtɚən
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An experienced person who has been through many battles; someone who has given long service
A serviceman who has seen considerable active service
“The veterans laughed at the new recruits.”
A person who has served in the armed forces
A person with long experience of a particular activity.
adjective
Of or relating to former members of the military armed forces, especially those who served during wartime.
Having had long experience, practice, or service.
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: An experienced person who has been through many battles; someone who has given long service
Used this way, veteran is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- veteran soldier , rarer, so it draws attention
- warhorse , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
- vet , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use veteran
- “The veterans laughed at the new recruits.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
An experienced person who has been through many battles, situations or contests.
A veteran; an experienced person.
A person who is experienced at a certain activity.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A serviceman who has seen considerable active service.
An organization of United States war veterans.
The person who holds the secretaryship of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The United States federal department responsible for the interests of military veterans.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A legal holiday in the United States.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: experienced person who has been through many battles
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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.