army

/ˈɑː.mi//ˈɑɹ.mi/

army noun: a large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.

Noun (1)

army (plural armies)

A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
- An army never can be commanded or controlled by civilians.1858, Prince George, letter to Sir Colin Campbell
- The army was sent in to quell the uprising.
1. Used absolutely for that entire branch of the armed forces.
  - The army received a bigger share of this year's budget increase than the navy or air force.
2. (capitalized, often) Within a vast military, a very large tactical contingent (e.g. a number of divisions).
  - The Fourth Army suffered such losses that its remainders were merged into the Second Army, also deployed on the Western front.
The governmental agency in charge of a state's army.
- The army opposed the legislature's involvement.
(figuratively) A large group of people working toward the same purpose.
- It took an army of accountants to uncover the fraud.
- On sunny days the beaches draw armies of tourists of all kinds.
(collective, figuratively) A large group of animals, especially caterpillars or social insects working toward the same purpose.
- Our house is being attacked by an army of ants.
(figuratively) Any multitude.
- There was an army of construction cranes working on building the skyscraper.
The military as a whole.
- The People's Liberation Army Navy of China.
- The Yugoslav Army consisted of the War Navy, Ground Forces, and Air Force.

Noun (2) capitalized: ARMY

ARMY (countable and uncountable, plural ARMYs)

(slang, uncountable) The fandom of the K-pop boy band BTS.
- ARMY are clever, too: they urged fans not to buy J-Hope's mixtape Hope World on its release date, having worked out that delaying by a day would result in a higher ranking in the Billboard charts.2018, Adrian Besley, BTS: Icons of K-Pop, page 170
- In this manner, ARMY gives charity in the name of BTS, and BTS responds by returning charity back to society in the name of ARMY.2019, Jeeheng Lee, BTS and ARMY Culture, page 163
(countable, slang) An individual fan of the K-pop boy band BTS.
- Entering the theater, I expected the room to be filled with ARMYs decked out in their BTS merchandise.2018 December, Ashley Chen, “BTS film rallies a large army”, in The Union, page 13
- It began when an ARMY tweeted something along the lines of: “If there are so many of us everywhere in the world, shouldn't we make a change and help people?”2019, Jeeheng Lee, BTS and ARMY Culture, page 160

Proper noun capitalized: Army

Army

A sports team representing the US Military Academy at West Point.
- Army has several returning starters this year.
Hexagram 7 of the I Ching (䷆)

army meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

army in Hindi

military force concerned mainly with ground operations: सेना senā, थलसेना thalsenā, फ़ौज fauj, फौज phauj, सैन्य sainya, थल सेना thal senā

army in Tamil

military force concerned mainly with ground operations: படை paṭai, ராணுவம் rāṇuvam, பட்டாளம் paṭṭāḷam, சேனை cēṉai

army in Marathi

military force concerned mainly with ground operations: आर्मी ārmī, लष्कर laṣkar, सेना senā

army in Urdu

military force concerned mainly with ground operations: فَوج fauj, لَشْکَر laśkar, جَیش jaiś, سِپاہ sipāh, اُرْدُو urdū, عَسْکَر 'askar

More languagesFewer languages

army in Bengali: সেনা śena, ফৌজ phōuj, লস্কর loskor
army in Telugu: సేన sēna
army in Malayalam: പട്ടാളം paṭṭāḷaṁ
army in Kannada: ಸೇನೆ sēne
army in Punjabi: ਸੈਨਾ sainā
army in Gujarati: આર્મી ārmī, સેના senā
army in Odia: ସେନା senā
army in Sanskrit: स्थलसैन्यं sthalasainyaṃ, सेना senā
army in Sinhala: ඇණිය æṇiya, කඳවුර kaⁿdawura
army in Assamese: সেনা xena
army in Nepali: सेना senā
army in Pashto: پوځ pwj, لښکر lax̌kar, اردو ordu, عسکر 'askar
army in Tagalog: hukbo, hukbong-kati, hukbong-sandatahan, ehersito
army in Arabic: جَيْش jayš
army in Malay: tentera
army in Indonesian: tentara, angkatan darat
army in Persian: گند gond
army in Thai: ทัพ táp, กองทัพ gɔɔng-táp, พล pon, กองทัพบก gɔɔng-táp-bòk
army in Vietnamese: quân đội, lục quân
army in Myanmar: စစ်တပ် cactap, တပ်မတော် tapma.tau, ကြည်းတပ် krany:tap

Examples of army in a sentence

Alexander the Great's army numbered an elite cavalry among its ranks.
The army won the battle decisively, but at a cost of many lives.
The army timed their attack to coincide with the local celebrations.

All 40 example sentences with army

Synonyms of army

host
here

Forms of army

plural	armies
plural	ARMYs

Plural of army: armies

Origin of army

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.

From an acronym/backronym based on army ("Adorable Representative for MC Youth"), suggesting a large, devoted fanbase.

Words formed from army

Words that rhyme with army

barmy
smarmy

Questions about army

What does army mean?: Army means a large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations.
What is army in Hindi?: Army in Hindi is सेना (senā), थलसेना (thalsenā), फ़ौज (fauj). See Army meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is army?: Army can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce army?: Army is pronounced /ˈɑː.mi/ (UK).
What is the plural of army?: The plural of army is armies.

Words near army in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: army (page history and authors); ARMY (page history and authors); Army (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-army.ogg, en-us-army.ogg.

Cite this entry: “army.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/army. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.