train 1 of 2

1
as in entourage
a body of employees or servants who accompany and wait on a person a movie star who never goes anywhere without a train of personal assistants to cater to his every whim and need

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2
as in fleet
a group of vehicles traveling together or under one management a train of supply trucks making its way to the army encampment

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3
as in queue
a series of persons or things arranged one behind another already a long train of ticket buyers waiting outside the stadium

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train

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verb

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3
as in to focus
to fix (as one's attention) steadily toward a central objective train all your thoughts on imagining how you'd score the winning goal in the game

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4
as in to aim
to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal trained his eyes on the distant bull's-eye

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

5
as in to equip
to make competent (as by training, skill, or ability) for a particular office or function he's so experienced that they usually use him to train new recruits

Synonyms & Similar Words

Synonym Chooser

How is the word train different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of train are discipline, educate, instruct, school, and teach. While all these words mean "to cause to acquire knowledge or skill," train stresses instruction and drill with a specific end in view.

trained foreign pilots to operate the new aircraft

When is discipline a more appropriate choice than train?

While the synonyms discipline and train are close in meaning, discipline implies training in habits of order and precision.

a disciplined mind

When could educate be used to replace train?

In some situations, the words educate and train are roughly equivalent. However, educate implies development of the mind.

more things than formal schooling serve to educate a person

When is it sensible to use instruct instead of train?

The synonyms instruct and train are sometimes interchangeable, but instruct suggests methodical or formal teaching.

instructs raw recruits in military drill

Where would school be a reasonable alternative to train?

While in some cases nearly identical to train, school implies training or disciplining especially in what is hard to master.

schooled the horse in five gaits

When might teach be a better fit than train?

Although the words teach and train have much in common, teach applies to any manner of imparting information or skill so that others may learn.

taught us a lot about our planet

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of train
Noun
More-efficient steam engines were deployed in new factories, trains and steamships. Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 4 Feb. 2025 The return to civilization above was easy, thanks to a cable train. Megan Dubois, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
Verb
With a mentor and coach, Ashe began to seriously train and enter local tournaments. Sarah Holzmann, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Feb. 2025 The researchers trained seven macaws to perform two intransitive actions. Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2025 See all Example Sentences for train 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for train
Noun
  • Rarer still were his family members loitering with the entourage.
    Philip Elliott, TIME, 27 Jan. 2025
  • Similarly, in 2016, A$AP Rocky was sued by a man who claimed the rapper and his entourage assaulted him in a New York City clothing store, though the case was eventually settled out of court.
    Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • The first-stage booster flew for the 21st time, one of four boosters with more than 20 flights among the SpaceX fleet.
    Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 4 Feb. 2025
  • This was once a bustling lumber town with a sawmill, its own railroad and shipping fleet, 10 hotels, 15 saloons, multiple dance halls — and a great back story.
    John Metcalfe, The Mercury News, 3 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • The aircraft skidded along the highway, narrowly missing a long queue of morning traffic, and was followed by a thick plume of smoke.
    Ana Melgar, CNN, 7 Feb. 2025
  • The big picture: Roughly 2,600 gigawatts of project proposals — more than twice the power capacity currently supplying the grid — were in the interconnection queue at the end of 2023, DOE estimated.
    Daniel Moore, Axios, 6 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Alejandro is captured playing a vinyl record in a Seventies scene before a dream sequence of the singer surrounded by women behind a red curtain, seemingly seducing him and his thoughts.
    Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2025
  • Instead, numerous Chelsea sequences of possession ended with Jadon Sancho or Pedro Neto clipping crosses towards no one in particular with Nkunku, Palmer — or both — loitering just outside the Brighton penalty area.
    Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 9 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • That meant writing songs, producing records, delivering those records on time, having great bands, rehearsing, being prepared and not leaving the basics up to chance.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 10 Feb. 2025
  • Allowing the hair to air dry helped maintain its integrity and prepared it for the coloring phase.
    Larry Stansbury, Essence, 10 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Her mother Colleen, however, taught the junior guard how to play basketball.
    Jeff Vorva, Chicago Tribune, 4 Feb. 2025
  • But in the seven days depicted here, the students took charge, teaching their elders — and anyone who would listen — not to underestimate them.
    Peter Debruge, Variety, 3 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • Portions of Reichert’s memoir are focused on her own story without her father or the Holocaust taking center stage.
    Norman Weinstein, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Feb. 2025
  • The e-Stewards certification program is focused on the responsible management of end-of-life electronics (Staples is a partner) and aligns with the Basel Convention requirements for the transboundary movement of electronic waste and components.
    Simon Hill, WIRED, 5 Feb. 2025
Verb
  • By mid-August, Selig and Reinsdorf gained enough support to cause AL president Bobby Brown and NL head Bill White to call a special meeting aimed at ousting Vincent.
    Ronald Blum, Chicago Tribune, 2 Feb. 2025
  • These missions, featuring international crews from Russia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, aimed to replicate the isolation and psychological strain of long-term spaceflight.
    Anastasia Stepanova, Space.com, 2 Feb. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near train

Cite this Entry

“Train.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/train. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.

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