phalanx

noun pha·lanx \ ˈfā-ˌlaŋ(k)s , British usually ˈfa- \

|Updated on: 12 Jun 2018

Definition of phalanx

plural phalanxes or phalanges play \fə-ˈlan-(ˌ)jēz, fā-, ˈfā-ˌ, British usually fa-\

1 : a body of heavily armed infantry in ancient Greece formed in close deep ranks and files; broadly : a body of troops in close array

2 plural phalanges : one of the digital bones of the hand or foot of a vertebrate

3 plural usually phalanxes

a : a massed arrangement of persons, animals, or things

a phalanx of armed guards

b : an organized body of persons

a phalanx of lawyers

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Examples of phalanx in a Sentence

A solid phalanx of armed guards stood in front of the castle.
She had to go through a phalanx of television cameras.

Recent Examples of phalanx from the Web

This phalanx of states will defend the nation’s clean car standards to boost gas mileage and curb toxic air pollution.

— kirsten korosec, Fortune, "California Sues EPA Plans to Rollback Vehicle Emissions Rules," 1 May 2018
At one of her meetings with Rupert Murdoch, according to Carreyrou, the mogul was stunned by Holmes’s phalanx of bodyguards — Murdoch travels with only one.

— yashar ali, Daily Intelligencer, "The Reporter Who Took Down a Unicorn," 24 May 2018
He did not get cowed by the phalanx of photographers in the beginning, and that’s important.

— vanessa fuhrmans, WSJ, "How Did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Do? Crisis-Management Experts Weigh In," 11 Apr. 2018
Later, with a police helicopter flying overhead that drowned out the sound of the demonstrators, phalanxes of officers moved through the crowd forcing them to disperse or face arrest.

— jake rudnitsky, Bloomberg.com, "Russia Detains Navalny, Hundreds at ‘Tsar’ Inauguration Protests," 5 May 2018
They are equipped with tomahawk missiles, torpedoes, guns and a phalanx close-in weapons system.

— kayla turnbow, Houston Chronicle, "Houston sailor serves aboard Navy warship homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii," 5 May 2018
The spark ignites in Jennifer Schriever’s lighting design, which makes sherbet orange and indigo radiate seemingly from the Angel herself, joining Faridany’s mellifluous voice, which charges every tone with a phalanx of heavenly grace notes.

— lily janiak, San Francisco Chronicle, "Berkeley Rep revives ‘Angels in America,’ in all its soaring spirit," 29 Apr. 2018
The car and the phalanx of guards reappeared after the lunch break, jogging back to the location of a tree-planting ceremony.

— euan mckirdy, CNN, "When Kim met Moon: All the key moments from a historic day," 27 Apr. 2018
Trump accepted on the spot, stunning Chung, the other high-level South Koreans who were with him, and the phalanx of US officials who were gathered in the Oval Office.

— BostonGlobe.com, "With snap ‘yes,’ Trump rolls dice on North Korea," 11 Mar. 2018

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

Did You Know?

The original sense of "phalanx" refers to a military formation that was used in ancient warfare and consisted of a tight block of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder, several rows deep, often with shields joined. The word phalanx comes from the Greeks, though they were not the only ones who used this formation. The Greek term literally means "log" and was used for both this line of battle and for a bone in a finger or toe. The word and its senses passed into Latin and then were adopted into English in the 16th century. These days, a "phalanx" can be any arranged mass, whether of persons, animals, or things, or a body of people organized in a particular effort.

Origin and Etymology of phalanx

Latin phalang-, phalanx, from Greek, battle line, digital bone, literally, log — more at balk

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1553

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Military Terms

bivouac, logistics, petard, salient, sally, supernumerary, tactical

PHALANX Defined for English Language Learners

phalanx

noun

Definition of phalanx for English Language Learners

: a large group of people, animals, or things often placed close together

Medical Dictionary

phalanx

noun pha·lanx \ ˈfā-ˌlaŋ(k)s, British usually ˈfal-ˌaŋ(k)s \

medical Definition of phalanx

plural phalanges \fə-ˈlan-(ˌ)jēz, fā-, ˈfā-ˌ, British usually fal-ˈan-\

: any of the digital bones of the hand or foot distal to the metacarpus or metatarsus of a vertebrate that in humans are three to each finger and toe with the exception of the thumb and big toe which have only two each