garrison

1 of 2

noun

gar·​ri·​son ˈger-ə-sən How to pronounce garrison (audio)
ˈga-rə-
1
: a military post
especially : a permanent military installation
2
: the troops stationed at a garrison

garrison

2 of 2

verb

garrisoned; garrisoning ˈger-ə-s(ə-)niŋ How to pronounce garrison (audio)
ˈga-rə-

transitive verb

1
: to station troops in
2
a
: to assign as a garrison
b
: to occupy with troops

Examples of garrison in a Sentence

Noun a garrison of 5,000 men
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Fort Leavenworth is the oldest U.S. Army garrison still in operation west of the Mississippi River. Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 4 Mar. 2024 The Russian air force meanwhile aims to bomb more Ukrainian garrisons into submission, and help Russian ground troops to gain ground, before the Sukhoi squadrons are exhausted for a want of planes and experienced crews. David Axe, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024 The official, Liaquat Ali Chatha, is a top administrative official in Punjab Province overseeing Rawalpindi, a garrison city where the military has its headquarters, and three adjacent districts. Zia Ur-Rehman, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2024 The garrison town established in the 1840s was once dominated by outlaws and renegades like gunslinger John King Fisher. Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 30 Jan. 2024 It would be overseen by the Shanghai garrison of the PLA, according to Jiefang Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party in the city. Laura He, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024 The Russian military initially sent 40,000 troops to attack Avdiivka’s garrison with its few thousand troops. David Axe, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024 The plot follows a former WWII kamikaze pilot named Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who encountered Godzilla in 1945 when the monster attacked a Japanese base on Odo Island, but failed to act to help save the garrison. Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 17 Jan. 2024 South Carolina's decision to attack the federal garrison at Fort Sumter on the early morning of April 12, 1861, little more than a month after Lincoln took office, triggered the military conflict. Sudiksha Kochi, USA TODAY, 7 Jan. 2024
Verb
Russian defenses in 2023 were deep, well prepared, fronted by extensive minefields, backed by mobile reserves, and garrisoned by troops who fought hard when attacked. Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, 29 Jan. 2024 In response, the government had garrisoned six regiments of soldiers in the town, in a domestic invasion that became a kind of slow-burning civil war of factory owners, supported by the state, against workers. Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2023 The dish is centered around a fort-like construction of Japanese-style honey toast, garrisoned with ice cream, mango, sticky rice, roti bread and a drizzle of this and that. Stuart Melling, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Aug. 2023 Chinese troops have been garrisoned in Hong Kong since its handover to Chinese rule in 1997, but the PLA has historically kept a very low profile. James Griffiths, CNN, 26 May 2020 Within four years, with Roosevelt now in the White House, American troops arrived to garrison the Isthmus of Panama, where the United States, employing considerable chicanery, was setting out to build a canal. Andrew J. Bacevich, Harper's magazine, 2 Mar. 2020 The attacks have also spilled into Niger, a vast desert nation that Western powers have been garrisoning into one of the world’s most strategic security hubs. Nick Kostov, WSJ, 2 Feb. 2020 One way to make sure real estate changes hands in just one direction would be by garrisoning friendly territory with mobile anti-ship missiles. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 19 Jan. 2020 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

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'garrison.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English garisoun "wealth, gift, tribute, protection, fortified place, body of soldiers," borrowed from Anglo-French garisun "protection, cure, income, supplies," from garir "to support, protect, cure" (going back to Old Low Franconian *warjan "to defend, prevent," going back to Germanic *warjan-) + -isun, deverbal noun suffix, going back to Latin -ītiōn-, -ītiō, from -ī-, verb stem formative + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at weir

Note: The Middle English sense "fortified place, body of soldiers" reflects confusion with Middle English garnisoun and Anglo-French garnisun "fortified place, body of armed men stationed in such a place," from Anglo-French garnir "to give notice, equip, arm, fortify" (see garnish entry 1) + the same suffix seen in garisun.

Verb

derivative of garrison entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1569, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of garrison was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near garrison

Cite this Entry

“Garrison.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garrison. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

garrison

1 of 2 noun
gar·​ri·​son ˈgar-ə-sən How to pronounce garrison (audio)
1
: a military post
especially : a permanent military installation
2
: the troops stationed at a garrison

garrison

2 of 2 verb
garrisoned; garrisoning ˈgar-əs(ə-)niŋ How to pronounce garrison (audio)
1
: to station troops in
2
: to send (troops) to a garrison

Biographical Definition

Garrison

biographical name

Gar·​ri·​son ˈger-ə-sən How to pronounce Garrison (audio)
ˈga-rə-sən
William Lloyd 1805–1879 American abolitionist

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