as in armies
a large body of men and women organized for land warfare
the nation's battalions were forced to fight on two fronts simultaneously
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Recent Examples of battalions
That would imply three missile-firing battalions and six to nine nuclear-capable ICBMs, such as the Hwasong-15 or Hwasong-18.
—
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
While the arc of Agu’s transformation is tragic and the story of the civil war and its battalions of child soldiers is wide in scope, the power of the novel lies in its immersion.
—Katie Kitamura
august 21, Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2025
Others have left the Belarusian armed forces to join volunteer battalions that are helping Ukrainian forces defend their homeland.
—Mark Temnycky, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Massive snow clouds like battalions have smothered the sunlight.
—Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
The Biden administration sent more than 300 Bradleys to Ukraine, and the Ukrainians distributed them to at least six 31-vehicle battalions, including several with the 47th Mechanized Brigade.
—David Axe, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025
But Israel has refused to countenance any Hamas control in Gaza, while Hamas has shown little appetite for disbanding its battalions of armed fighters or sending its Gaza leaders into exile.
—Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025
Though the initiative would occur outside of the NATO format, one Western official pointed to NATO’s multinational battalions in the Baltic countries — which, unlike Ukraine, are members of the alliance — as a possible model.
—Samya Kullab and Emma Burrows, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Its battalions have been smashed; all that is left is a ragtag insurgency capable only of hit-and-run tactics.
—Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 19 Jan. 2025
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Aug. 2025
While the arc of Agu’s transformation is tragic and the story of the civil war and its battalions of child soldiers is wide in scope, the power of the novel lies in its immersion.
—Katie Kitamura
august 21, Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2025
Others have left the Belarusian armed forces to join volunteer battalions that are helping Ukrainian forces defend their homeland.
—Mark Temnycky, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
Massive snow clouds like battalions have smothered the sunlight.
—Joyce Carol Oates, The New Yorker, 16 Mar. 2025
The Biden administration sent more than 300 Bradleys to Ukraine, and the Ukrainians distributed them to at least six 31-vehicle battalions, including several with the 47th Mechanized Brigade.
—David Axe, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025
But Israel has refused to countenance any Hamas control in Gaza, while Hamas has shown little appetite for disbanding its battalions of armed fighters or sending its Gaza leaders into exile.
—Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025
Though the initiative would occur outside of the NATO format, one Western official pointed to NATO’s multinational battalions in the Baltic countries — which, unlike Ukraine, are members of the alliance — as a possible model.
—Samya Kullab and Emma Burrows, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2025
Its battalions have been smashed; all that is left is a ragtag insurgency capable only of hit-and-run tactics.
—Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 19 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for battalions
armies
Noun
-
In desperate need of shelf-stable foods to feed his armies, Napoléon Bonaparte offered a reward of 12,000 francs to anyone who could invent a new method of food preservation.—
Bon Appétit,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Bluesky, part of the decentralized internet, is slower paced and caters to niche interests, rewarding internecine fights over minutiae, whereas X is deliberately chaotic, encouraging the gathering of follower-armies and ideological insult-comedy for an audience that may be largely made up of bots.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Battalions.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/battalions. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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