What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Soldier vs Civilian - What's the difference?

soldier | civilian |

As a proper noun soldier

is a city in iowa.

As a noun civilian is

a person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the armed forces.

As an adjective civilian is

that which is not related to the military, police or other uniformed profession.

soldier

English

Alternative forms

* soldior (obsolete) * soldiour (obsolete) * souldier (obsolete) * souldior (obsolete) * souldiour (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A member of an army, of any rank.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • *:I am a soldier and unapt to weep.
  • *
  • *:Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, her alluring smile?; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
  • *2012 , August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal
  • *:Stanning, who was commissioned from Sandhurst in 2008 and has served in Aghanistan, is not the first solider to bail out the organisers at these Games but will be among the most celebrated.
  • A private in military service, as distinguished from an officer.
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:It were meet that any one, before he came to be a captain, should have been a soldier .
  • A guardsman.
  • A member of the Salvation Army.
  • A piece of buttered bread (or toast), cut into a long thin strip and dipped into a soft-boiled egg.
  • A term of affection for a young boy.
  • Someone who fights or toils well.
  • The red or cuckoo gurnard (Trigla pini ).
  • One of the asexual polymorphic forms of white ants, or termites, in which the head and jaws are very large and strong. The soldiers serve to defend the nest.
  • Synonyms

    * (member of an army) grunt, sweat, old sweat, Tommy

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To continue.
  • To be a soldier.
  • To intentionally restrict labor productivity; to work at the slowest rate that goes unpunished. Has also been called dogging it'' or ''goldbricking . (Originally from the way that conscripts may approach following orders. Usage less prevalent in the era of all-volunteer militaries.)
  • Derived terms

    * soldierly

    See also

    * soldier on * toy soldier, plastic soldier * soldier ant, soldier bee * soldier of fortune * construction soldier

    Anagrams

    *

    civilian

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person following the pursuits of civil life, especially one who is not an active member of the armed forces.
  • (label) A person who does not belong to a particular group or engage in a particular activity.
  • One skilled in civil law.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • A student of civil law at a university or college.
  • Adjective

    (-)
  • That which is not related to the military, police or other uniformed profession