Word.ws English Dictionary

phalanges

UK/ˈfælænd͡ʒɪz/US/ˈfeɪlænd͡ʒɪz/

phalanges is the plural of phalange.

phalanges is the plural of phalanx.

Meaning of phalange

Noun

phalange (plural phalanges)

  1. (obsolete) Synonym of phalanx (“group of soldiers, people etc.”).
    Synonyms:
    phalanx
  2. Synonym of phalanx (“one of the bones of the finger or toe”).
    Synonyms:
    phalanx
  3. Any of the joints of an insect's tarsus.
  4. A bundle of stamens joined by their filaments.
  5. A phalanstery.
    • The office of an Unarch is therefore but an honourable title. What can political authority be applied to in the Phalange, where all means of violence are absolutely useless, where no clashing interests, no enemies exist; […]1910, Mikhail Ivanovich Tugan-Baranovskiĭ, Modern Socialism in Its Historical Development, page 164

See all 6 meanings of phalange

Meaning of phalanx

Noun

phalanx (plural phalanxes or (literary, formal or academic) phalanges)

  1. (historical) An ancient Greek and Macedonian military unit that consisted of several ranks and files (lines) of soldiers in close array with joined shields and long spears.
  2. A large group of people, animals or things, compact or closely massed, or tightly knit and united in common purpose.
    • The monarch hath gone, but his rocky throne
      Still rests on its frowning base;
      Its motionless guards rise in phalanx lone,
      And nought save the winds through their helmets that moan,
      And none but those bosoms and hearts of stone
      Sigh o'er a fallen race.1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, The Chair of the Indian KIng, page 93
  3. (historical) A Fourierite utopian community; a phalanstery.
    • [Charles Fourier] calculated that if precisely 1,620 men, women and children were collected in a 6,000-acre phalanx, they would — all by merrily following their individual passions — end up satisfying all the phalanx’s essential needs.2009 April 16, Jon Mooallem, “The End Is Near! (Yay!)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
  4. One of the bones of the finger or toe.
    Synonyms:
    phalange, phalangeal
  5. A bundle of stamens, in diadelphous and polyadelphous flowers.

See all 6 meanings of phalanx

Origin of phalanges

From Ancient Greek φάλαγγες (phálanges), plural of φάλαγξ (phálanx).

Phrases with phalanges

Questions about phalanges

What is phalanges the plural of?
Phalanges is the plural of phalange.
How do you pronounce phalanges?
Phalanges is pronounced /ˈfeɪlænd͡ʒɪz/ (US).

Words near phalanges in the dictionary

  1. phalangerid
  2. phalangerids
  3. phalangeriform
  4. phalangeriforms
  5. phalangers
  6. phalanges
  7. phalangette
  8. phalangettes
  9. phalangial
  10. phalangian
  11. phalangic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: phalanges (page history and authors); phalange (page history and authors); phalanx (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.

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