army
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ä'mē
ipa: /ˈɑː.miː/
enpr: är'mē
ipa: /ˈɑɹ.mi/
enpr: ä'mē
ipa: /ˈɐː.mi(ː)/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)mi
Forms: form: armies
Etymology: From (1386) Middle English armee, borrowed from Old French armee (cf. modern French armée), from Medieval Latin armāta (“armed force”), a noun taken from the past participle of Latin armāre (“to arm”), itself related to arma (“tools, arms”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to join, fit together”).
Doublet of armada. Displaced native Old English here and fierd.
Senses: examples: text: An army never can be commanded or controlled by civilians.
ref: 1858, Prince George, letter to Sir Colin Campbell
text: The army was sent in to quell the uprising.
text: This taut, soldierly, professional story is something of a stranger among American novels about war making. Angry civilians have writ ten most of the best fiction on the subject, from “Three Soldiers” through “Catch‐22,” to make the point (with a good deal of literary overkill) that wars are mass insanity and that armies are madhouses.
ref: 1970 September 13, Robie MacAuley, “The Army as one of life's awful necessities”, in The New York Times:
glosses: A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
examples: text: The army received a bigger share of this year's budget increase than the navy or air force.
glosses: A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
Used absolutely for that entire branch of the armed forces.
examples: text: The Fourth Army suffered such losses that its remainders were merged into the Second Army, also deployed on the Western front.
glosses: A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
Within a vast military, a very large tactical contingent (e.g. a number of divisions).
examples: text: The army opposed the legislature's involvement.
glosses: The governmental agency in charge of a state's army.
examples: text: It took an army of accountants to uncover the fraud.
text: On sunny days the beaches draw armies of tourists of all kinds.
text: Mr. Tenev, 33, is now in the hot seat again after Robinhood abruptly curtailed its customers’ trading last week amid a frenzy in stocks such as GameStop, which were driven sky high by an army of online investors.
ref: 2021 February 2, Nathaniel Popper, Kellen Browning, Erin Griffith, “Robinhood’s C.E.O. Is in the Hot Seat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: A large group of people working toward the same purpose.
examples: text: Our house is being attacked by an army of ants.
glosses: A large group of social animals working toward the same purpose.
examples: text: There was an army of construction cranes working on building the skyscraper.
glosses: Any multitude.
examples: text: The People's Liberation Army Navy of China.
text: The Yugoslav Army consisted of the War Navy, Ground Forces, and Air Force.
text: Iran's army consists of the Navy, Ground Forces, and Air Force.
glosses: The military as a whole.
Synonyms: host
here
Derived terms: 50 cent army
fifty-cent army
fifty cent army
an army marches on its stomach
antiarmy
armied
army ant
army base
army boot
army boots
army brat
army crawl
army creole
army cutworm
army golf
army green
army group
armyless
armylike
armyman
Army of Northern Virginia
armyspeak
army surplus
army time
army volunteer
armywear
armyworm
army-worm
army worm
Black Army
Black Flag Army
Blue Army
bonsai army
flying army
Fred Karno's army
general of the army
General of the Army
green army
Green Army
interarmy
keyboard army
Lord's Resistance Army
mud army
nonarmy
old army game
one-man army
people's army
puppet army
Red Army
standing army
Swiss Army knife
Swiss Army penknife
troll army
White Army
you and what army
you and whose army?
you and whose army
Related terms: armament
arm
arms
armed
armor
armour
navy
Air Force
Marines