Vocabulary     

What does Infantry mean?

Definitions for Infantry
ˈɪn fən triin·fant·ry

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Infantry.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. infantry, footnoun

    an army unit consisting of soldiers who fight on foot

    "there came ten thousand horsemen and as many fully-armed foot"

Wiktionary

  1. infantrynoun

    Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne).

  2. infantrynoun

    The part of an army consisting of infantry soldiers, especially opposed to mounted and technical troops

  3. infantrynoun

    A regiment of infantry

  4. Etymology: From infanterie, from older, possibly from infantería "foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank for cavalry," from infante "foot soldier," originally "a youth", either way from infans '(child) who doesn't speak (yet)' (from in- 'non-' + fari 'to speak')

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Infantrynoun

    The foot soldiers of an army.

    Etymology: infanterie, French.

    The principal strength of an army consisteth in the infantry or foot; and to make good infantry it requireth men bred in some free and plentiful manner. Francis Bacon, Henry VII.

    That small infantry,
    Warr'd on by cranes. John Milton.

Wikipedia

  1. Infantry

    Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry, mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine infantry.

ChatGPT

  1. infantry

    Infantry refers to soldiers who fight while on foot, typically armed with handheld weapons such as rifles or grenades. These soldiers usually form the bulk of a military force and are trained to engage in various combat situations, including direct confrontation with enemy forces, defensive operations, and capturing or holding strategic positions.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Infantrynoun

    a body of children

  2. Infantrynoun

    a body of soldiers serving on foot; foot soldiers, in distinction from cavalry

  3. Etymology: [F. infanterie, It. infanteria, fr. infante infant, child, boy servant, foot soldier, fr. L. infans, -antis, child; foot soldiers being formerly the servants and followers of knights. See Infant.]

Wikidata

  1. Infantry

    Infantry is the branch of an army who fight on foot — soldiers specifically trained to engage, fight, and defeat the enemy in face-to-face combat; infantrymen thus bear the brunt of warfare, and suffer the greatest number of casualties. Historically, as the oldest branch of the combat arms, the infantry are the backbone of a modern army, and continually undergo training that is more stressful and demanding than that of any other branch of the combat arms, or of the army. The infantry’s greater emphasis upon discipline, physical fitness, and psychological strength develop reflexive skills that allow the spontaneous deployment of sustained aggression and violence, which make a weapon-system of the infantryman, whether armed or unarmed. Infantrymen are distinguished from soldiers trained to fight on horseback, from tanks, and as technicians, by their greatly developed combat skills, such as movement techniques, firearms proficiency, and field craft. Infantry can enter and manœver in terrain that is inaccessible to military vehicles and to battle tanks, and employ infantry support weapons that provide sustained firepower, in the absence of artillery. The transport and delivery of infantrymen to battle include marching and mechanised, airborne, air assault, and amphibious techniques.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Infantry

    in′fant-ri, n. foot-soldiers. [Fr. infanterie—It. infanteria—infante, fante, a child, a servant, a foot-soldier—L. infantem, infans.]

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. infantry

    Foot soldiers of the regular army; so called throughout Europe after the original Spanish "infanteria," or troops of the infanta or queen of Spain, who first developed on a large scale the importance of the arm.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. infantry

    (Lat. infans, “child,” or “servant,” applied to servants who went on foot, and infanterie, to foot-soldiers generally). Is that portion of a military establishment using small-arms and equipped for marching and fighting on foot, in contradistinction to artillery and cavalry. It is the oldest of the “three arms” into which armies are conventionally divided; was the favorite of the Greeks, the Gauls, the Germans, and the Franks, and was that mainly with which Rome conquered the world. Under Grecian and Roman civilization it attained pre-eminence as the arm of battle, but fell into contempt and comparative desuetude early in the Middle Ages, and did not emerge from that obscurity till the decline of the feudal system. It was first revived by the Swiss, who, armed with the pike, withstood the most famous chivalry of Europe. Afterwards the Spanish infantry, armed with the musket, and led by Alva and the Duke of Parma, Cortez and Pizarro, became the terror of two continents. The other states of Europe were not slow in learning the lesson. Infantry steadily increased in power and importance from the first years of the 14th century, and is now recognized as constituting the principal strength of military organizations. This importance results from the fact that it can be used everywhere, “in mountains or on plains, in woody or open countries, in cities or in fields, on rivers or at sea, in the redoubt or in the attack on the breach.” It is the self-sustaining arm in the field of battle, and is, moreover, less expensive, man for man, than its auxiliaries.

Etymology and Origins

  1. Infantry

    Foot soldiers, so called, not because, like children, they have to be trained to walk, but for the reason that one of the Infantes of Spain collected a body of armed men, unmounted, to rescue his father, the King, from captivity at the hands of the Moors. Afterwards foot soldiers in Spain and Italy received the name of Enfanteria.

Matched Categories

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce Infantry?

How to say Infantry in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Infantry in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Infantry in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of Infantry in a Sentence

  1. Michael Fallon:

    A training team of some 20 troops from the 4th Infantry Brigade is now moving to Tunisia to help to counter illegal cross-border movement from Libya in support of the Tunisian authorities.

  2. Mike Slattengren:

    I think Naval Air Station was different for those who were in the jungles of Vietnam in infantry roles.

  3. Don Bacon:

    They put the bombs on the airplanes. They're the guys that are infantry and special forces, by and large, there's no reason they should be on SNAP.

  4. Brian Kelly:

    Overall deployment of the 700-stong Chinese infantry battalion and its equipment will take more than two months to complete.

  5. Louis Bravo:

    Being a sniper is in fact different than just being infantry, it's an added stressor as everyone expects more from you. Or that every sniper should be able to perform at Hollywood level because they saw Mark Wahlberg in 'Shooter.'.

more sentences »

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Infantry#10000#10664#100000

References

Translations for Infantry

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for Infantry »

Translation

Find a translation for the Infantry definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:

Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Infantry." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 19 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Infantry>.

Powered by CITE.ME Cite.Me

Discuss these Infantry definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for Infantry? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    Infantry

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    #ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    (of a flowering plant) having two cotyledons in the seed
    A ostensive
    B askant
    C bibulous
    D dicotyledonous

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for Infantry: