LEGIONARY Synonyms: 68 Similar and Opposite Words

legionary

noun

Definition of legionary

as in soldier

a person engaged in military service the daring exploits of the French legionaries have long been the stuff of literary and cinematic legend

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

civilian

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 legionary The hoard consists of 25 silver denarii in total, equal to the monthly salary of a Roman legionary — or citizen soldier. — Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 31 July 2025 Their deployments lack the ideological zeal of the foreign legionaries who flocked to Ukraine in the early months of the war. — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2024 In the Thirties, the legionaries, as they were known, had launched pogroms that claimed hundreds of Jewish lives. — Dan Piepenbring, Harper's Magazine, 15 Nov. 2023 According to the Telegraph’s Mike Wright, the fort likely served as a satellite of Isca Dumnoniorum, a military fortification garrisoned by 5,500 legionaries tasked with pacifying the fiercely resisting local populations in the region. — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 27 Sep. 2019 The modern-day version has firms sending out agents to collect debts dressed in a medley of outfits from monks to Roman legionaries. — Bloomberg.com, 14 Feb. 2018

Recent Examples of Synonyms for legionary

Noun

The murder of two Israeli soldiers in the West Bank is the jumping-off point for a large-scale invasion of the Palestinian territory, a move that would further test the nation’s fraying relationship with the United States.

— Timothy Nerozzi, The Washington Examiner, 24 Oct. 2026
In April, a US Army soldier was arrested and charged with using confidential information to make $410,000 in Polymarket bets on the timing of the military’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

— Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of soldier

Noun

The research team intends to test other pits containing terracotta warriors and build a larger reference set of prints from ancient Chinese populations.

— News Desk, Artforum, 21 Oct. 2026
Since then, numerous instructors have found ways to use a chair for adapted versions of a surprising number of traditional yoga movements, like lunging warrior poses and standing-to-lying sun salutations.

— Jennifer Heimlich, Time, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of warrior

Browse Nearby Words

legionaries

legionary

legionnaire

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Legionary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legionary. Accessed 30 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of legionary

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

reticent

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Pwn, Skibidi, Girlboss and Other Words Added to the 2026 Scrabble Dictionary

The Words of the Week - Oct. 30

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes