comrade

noun

com·rade ˈkäm-ˌrad

-rəd,

especially British -ˌrād

Synonyms of comrade next

: an intimate friend or associate : companion

" … reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned … "—

Daniel Defoe

: a fellow soldier

comrades in battle

[from its use as a form of address by communists] : communist

comradeliness

ˈkäm-ˌrad-lē-nəs

noun

comradely adjective

comradeship

ˈkäm-ˌrad-ˌship

noun

Did you know?

In Latin, camara or camera denoted a vaulted ceiling or roof. Later, the word simply mean “room, chamber” and was inherited by many European languages with that meaning. In the Spanish, the word became cámara, and a derivative of that was camarada “a group of soldiers quartered in a room” and hence “fellow soldier, companion.” That Spanish word was borrowed into French as camarade and then into Elizabethan English as both camerade and comerade.

Examples of comrade in a Sentence

He enjoys spending time with his old army comrades. the boy, and two others who are known to be his comrades, are wanted for questioning by the police

Recent Examples on the Web But for Koichi and comrades, defeating Godzilla is the only way to overcome trauma and turmoil that have dogged them since the war ended. —

Richard Kuipers, Variety, 22 Nov. 2023 When a Russian tank shell hit his unit’s position in the eastern region of Donetsk, several of his comrades were killed. —

Dominique Soguel, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Nov. 2023 In a toast, Janice Fine, Jane’s longtime friend and comrade, reported that McAlevey had fired her from the party-planning committee. —

Eleni Schirmer, The New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2023 In the poster, Aang and his comrades Katara and Sokka are seen on the back of Appa. —

Mckinley Franklin, Variety, 8 Nov. 2023 His comrades praised his contributions, as did NASA. —

Michael S. Rosenwald, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2023 Certain remembers bystanders laughing while pointing at him and his fallen comrade. —

Jeremy Redmon, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Oct. 2023 In Mao’s day, a purge within the Party required skilled technicians to excise a comrade from photos. —

Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023 This is no coincidence, comrade, as the Soviets used to say. —

The Editorial Board, WSJ, 23 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'comrade.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Middle French camarade group sleeping in one room, roommate, companion, from Old Spanish camarada, from cámara room, from Late Latin camera, camara — more at chamber

First Known Use

1544, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler

The first known use of comrade was in 1544

See more words from the same year