legionaries

Noun

legionary (plural legionaries)

1. (Ancient-Rome) A soldier belonging to a legion; a professional soldier of the ancient Roman army.
   • Suddenly, [...] he saw all this as romantic — the last legionary, his aloneness, the lost cause really lost — and instinctively he pulled in his paunch, stroked down his hair to cover the naked part of the scalp, and wiped the sweat off his cheeks.1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 425
2. A person who is neither a citizen nor colonial/imperial subject of the state whose military they join.
3. A member of a legion, such as the American Legion, or of any organization containing the term legion in its title (e.g. the French Foreign Legion).

   Synonyms:

   legionnaire

See all 6 meanings of legionary