comrade

noun com·rade \ ˈkäm-ˌrad , -rəd , especially British -ˌrād \

|Updated on: 13 Aug 2018

Examples: comrade in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of comrade

1 a : an intimate friend or associate : companion

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

b : a fellow soldier

comrades in battle

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

: communist

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comradeliness

play \ˈkäm-ˌrad-lē-nəs\ noun

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comradely

adjective

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comradeship

play \ˈkäm-ˌrad-ˌship\ noun

See comrade defined for English-language learners

See comrade defined for kids

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 of comrade from the Web

From there unfurls the classic narrative of the big-time picket-line-crossing sellout, struggling with his own role as a collaborator with evil rich guys as his old comrades soldier on.

— vann r. newkirk ii, The Atlantic, "Sorry to Bother You Is a Dystopian Send-Up of Dystopias," 13 July 2018
Hinkle, who lost comrades in combat as well as to suicide after their deployments, said a turning point for him was seeing all the love and support for vets on Facebook.

— melissa fletcher stoeltje, San Antonio Express-News, "Walking the walk for veterans’ mental health," 16 June 2018
There is evidence that dogs have been comrades of soldiers for several millennia, fighting alongside their two-legged warriors, standing guard, and carrying messages.

— grant suneson and john harrington, USA TODAY, "The 25 most heroic dogs in America," 5 July 2018
Fred Spencer, 93, poured a shot of Crown Royal whiskey into a bucket of sand in honor of his deceased comrades.

— CBS News, "Last survivor of World War II unit fulfills its whiskey pact," 3 July 2018
Monitor film critic Peter Rainer particularly praises actress Gina Rodriguez’s performance as one of Lena’s comrades on the mission.

— staff, The Christian Science Monitor, "Ry Cooder's 'The Prodigal Son,' the iScanner app, and more top picks," 29 June 2018
Nelson Quintero, a friend and former rebel comrade who is a leader at the nearby camp, said Carvajal took his safety for granted.

— chris kraul, latimes.com, "Killings of demobilized rebels threaten peace process in Colombia," 5 June 2018
On this Memorial Day, the memories of a young man who grew up in public housing to become a college athlete, scholar and mentor still burn in the hearts of family, old friends and comrades.

— sig christenson, San Antonio Express-News, "As the long war rages on, a Ranger’s sacrifice is remembered," 27 May 2018
Over the decades the marble decayed, and Mary requested that it be replaced with a new one to keep her brother’s memory fresh, along with that of his comrade-in-arms.

— stu bykofsky, Philly.com, "Why a tombstone in a South Jersey military cemetery has both a Star of David and a cross | Stu Bykofsky," 25 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'comrade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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.

Origin and Etymology of comrade

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1544

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year