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Sentinel vs Watchman - What's the difference?

sentinel | watchman |

As nouns the difference between sentinel and watchman

is that sentinel is a sentry or guard while watchman is one set to watch; a person who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night.

As a verb sentinel

is to watch over as a guard.

sentinel

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sentry or guard.
  • * 1719-
    • They promised faithfully to bear their confinement with patience, and were very thankful that they had such good usage as to have provisions and light left them; for Friday gave them candles (such as we made ourselves) for their comfort; and they did not know but that he stood sentinel over them at the entrance.
  • * Macaulay
    • the sentinels who paced the ramparts
  • (computer science) a unique string of characters recognised by a computer program for processing in a special way; a keyword.
    • The ''<nowiki>'' tag is a sentinel that suspends web-page processing and displays the subsequent text literally.
  • Watch; guard.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • that princes do keep due sentinel
  • A sentinel crab.

    • Verb

  • To watch over as a guard.
    • He sentineled the north wall.
  • To post as guard.
    • He sentineled him on the north wall.
  • To post a guard for.
    • He sentineled the north wall with just one man.

    watchman

    English

    Noun

    (watchmen)
  • One set to watch; a person who keeps guard, especially one who guards a building, or the streets of a city, by night.

    • Derived terms

    * night watchman

    Related terms

    * security guard