battalion

noun

bat·​tal·​ion bə-ˈtal-yən 

1

: a considerable body of troops organized to act together : army

2

: a military unit composed of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar units

3

: a large group

Synonyms

• army
• array
• host
• legion

Examples of battalion in a Sentence

a battalion of angry protesters

the nation's battalions were forced to fight on two fronts simultaneously

Recent Examples on the Web

Prior to his civil service career, from 1966 to 1969, Dr. Arendt was a soldier in the U.S. Army and served as a battalion mail clerk, a 4.2mm mortarman in Alaska and a military policeman in Colorado at Fort Carson's maximum-security stockade. —Ethan Stone, USA TODAY, 1 Feb. 2025

Another battalion serviceman told CNN the North Koreans had shown good marksmanship when shooting down drones from about a 100-meter distance, suggesting a high level of training in North Korea. —Victoria Butenko, CNN, 31 Jan. 2025

James Bartholomew Cauthen, 54, a battalion fire chief with Coweta County Fire in Georgia who had been with the department for 24 years, was killed. —Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 21 Jan. 2025

But on Thursday afternoon, on a call that included Otto Benedict, who oversees the SoFi campus, and an LAPD battalion chief, the tenor changed. —Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French bataillon, from Old Italian battaglione, augmentative of battaglia company of soldiers, battle, from Late Latin battalia combat — more at battle entry 1

First Known Use

1579, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

battalion

noun

bat·​tal·​ion bə-ˈtal-yən 

1

: a large body of troops : army

2

: a military unit composed of two or more smaller units (as companies or batteries)

3

: a large body of persons organized to act together