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Glite Dictionary
veteran soldier

veteran soldier

1 3.3
A person who has served many years in the army and fought in wars
  • noun
  • /ˈvɛtərən ˈsoʊldʒər/
: veterano
  • Many young recruits look up to the veteran soldier for guidance and advice about lasting in the military.

What's the landscape of psychological sufferings that veteran soldiers go through?

Examples

  • Mostly they're all veteran soldiers now.

    Gettysburg (1993)

  • Veteran soldiers.

    Battle of the Bulge (1965)

  • The difference between the veteran soldier and the nonveteran is merely such exposure to battle and all of its uncertainties.

    Academic text (2002)

  • He was a veteran soldier: he had been knocked around in the victory at Ulm when he was fourteen and in the defeat in Prussia when he was twenty-two, but somewhere at the bottom of his soul he was still a crazy kid.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The veteran soldier shared his experiences from years of combat during the ceremony.

  • After serving in multiple deployments, the veteran soldier was honored for his bravery.

Synonyms

veteran
vsveteran soldier
355 3.3

A person who served in the military, often in a war

emphasizes long service and substantial combat experience
vet
vsveteran soldier
  • Informal
134 4.5

A person who served in the armed forces often during a war

focuses more on long service and many combat actions
warhorse
vsveteran soldier
4 7.0

A person with many years of experience in a job or field

applies specifically to long armed forces service and combat experience

How Battle-Hardened

veteran soldier
1 3.3

Surface Forms

veteran soldier singular
veteran soldiers plural

Morphology

veteran + soldier

The meaning 'a soldier who has served for a long time or seen active service' is directly derivable from combining 'veteran' (a person who served in the military) with 'soldier' (an enlisted military person). This is a straightforward noun–noun compositional pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

The phrase veteran soldier comes from the idea of a veteran as someone who has served a long time and a soldier who has fought in many battles. Picture an older soldier with medals and scars who knows the job well, and that's why it means 'a soldier with long experience'.