legion
Syllables: le·gion/ˈliː.d͡ʒən/US/ˈli.d͡ʒən/
legion adjective: numerous; vast; very great in number.
Adjective
legion (not comparable)
- Numerous; vast; very great in number.
- Russia’s labor and capital resources are woefully inadequate to overcome the state’s needs and vulnerabilities, which are legion.
- dissatisfied customers and their legion complaints
- Synonyms:
- multitudinous, numerous
Noun
legion (plural legions)
- The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.
- A combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery, including historical units such as the British Legion, and present-day units such as the Spanish Legion and the French Foreign Legion.
- A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia.
- Efforts to unionize were routinely met with clubbings, shootings, jailings, blacklistings and executions, perpetrated not only by well-armed legions of company goons, but also by police officers, deputies, National Guardsmen and even regular soldiers.2009 February 22, Kevin Baker, “Blood on the Street”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2022
- A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion.
- A large number of people; a multitude.
- Their complicated affairs are managed by a legion of accountants.
- With all due respect to Aaron, every era seems to have had its legion of wrongdoers and shortcutters who used whatever science was available to get an edge.2009 July 31, William C. Rhoden, “Baseball Players’ Silence Led to Loud Drip of Names”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022
- A great number.
- where one Sin has entered, Legions will force their Way through the fame Breach.1735, John Rogers (Canon of Wells.), “Sermon XV. Universal Obedience to the Laws of God, the indispensable Obligation of Christians”, in Nineteen Sermons on several occasions
- Afternoon TV mainstays like Leila Benitez and Bobby Ledesma of Darigold Jamboree gradually gave way to teenage loveteams Vi and Bot and Guy and Pip who had legions of fans watching their shows and movies and listening to their records.2002, Pia B. Gutierrez, The changing face of the Filipino, page 35
- A group of orders inferior to a class; in scientific classification, a term occasionally used to express an assemblage of objects intermediate between an order and a class.
Verb
legion (third-person singular simple present legions, present participle legioning, simple past and past participle legioned)
- To form into legions.
Proper noun capitalized: Legion
the Legion
- Ellipsis of American Legion.
legion meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
legion in Hindi
- the major unit or division of the Roman army
- लीजन lījan
legion in Tamil
- லெஜியன்
legion in Urdu
- the major unit or division of the Roman army
- لِیجَن lījan
legion in Bengali
- লিজিওন, লেজিওন
More languagesFewer languages
- legion in Telugu
- లెజియన్
- legion in Malayalam
- ലെജിയൻ, ലെജൻ
- legion in Kannada
- ಲೆಜಿಯನ್, ಲೀಜನ್
- legion in Punjabi
- ਲੀਜਨ, ਲੀਜੀਅਨ, ਲੀਜਿਅਨ
- legion in Odia
- ଲିଜିଅନ୍, ଲେଜିଅନ୍, ଲିଜିଅନ
- legion in Nepali
- लेजिओन, लेजन
- legion in Arabic
- فَيْلَق faylaq
- legion in Indonesian
- legiun
- legion in Vietnamese
- binh đoàn
Examples of legion in a sentence
- Members of the foreign legion paid in blood for their new citizenship.
- If you try to change the school schedule like that, you'll be up against legions of angry parents.
- As for the legions of paintings, they veer between the bland and bizarre.
Synonyms of legion
Forms of legion
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | legions |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | legions |
| present participle | legioning |
| past participle | legioned |
| past | legioned |
Origin of legion
Attested (in Middle English, as legioun) around 1200, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legionem, from legō (“to gather, collect”); akin to legend, lecture. Doublet of León, which was borrowed from Spanish. Generalized sense of “a large number” is due to an allusive phrase in Mark 5:9, "My name is Legion, for we are many".
Words formed from legion
Phrases with legion
Words that rhyme with legion
Questions about legion
- What does legion mean?
- Legion means numerous; vast; very great in number.
- What is legion in Hindi?
- Legion in Hindi is लीजन (lījan). See Legion meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is legion?
- Legion can be an adjective, a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce legion?
- Legion is pronounced /ˈliː.d͡ʒən/ (UK).
Words near legion in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: legion (page history and authors); Legion (page history and authors); legion (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); legion (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-legion.wav.
Cite this entry: “legion.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/legion. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.