National Guard
- noun
- /ˈnæʃənəl ɡɑrd/
- Formal
- The National Guard was deployed to assist local authorities during the emergency.
- National Guard member
- served in the National Guard
- National Guard duty
We'll never send our National Guard to actually defend our borders.
- We'll never send our National Guard to actually defend our borders.
- That famous tweet and Mayor Frye didn't call in the National Guard, but now he did.
- That's about the size of our entire National Guard.
- Well, of course, the answer being that the trials were a sham and the National Guard was there throughout the entire time protecting these young men.
- The the governor wouldn't send in the National Guard while people got beat and buildings got burnt and dreams got destroyed.
- The US Army was fairly complex before the war, with a system of state militias, a standing army, and the National Guard.
- Get my maps out and I start looking and I'm like National Guard base on the road they're on.
- Soon, Walls was recruited to join the National Guard, where he admitted to swindling our brave troops.
- Do you actually think Americans would let that go far with not only our National Guard, but also just Americans themselves?
- I've got pictures from the bottom of our street where they had the National Guard out because it was a danger they had kill white, kill, sorry, kill rich people.
Examples
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They've called out the National Guard, and riot police are on alert.
Fiction book (1998) -
All across Boston, National Guard units have been mobilized to try and to contain the situation.
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But there are orders and the National Guard is to follow them.
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I would then go to the National Guard unit, check in.
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Call out the National Guard!
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The National Guard might be called out... ...to clear roads.
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We were attached to a National Guard unit.
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We will deploy the National Guard on our streets and our streets will once again be safe.
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I'm calling in the National Guard.
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Communications have broken down between the National Guard and the police, and they're having problems communicating with each other.
Synonyms
An organized group of ordinary people who act as soldiers in emergencies
A volunteer group of local people who protect their area when the army is away
A group of trained soldiers not on active duty who can be called in emergencies
People who train as soldiers and can be called to serve in emergencies
How Professional
- Formal
- Specialized
- UK
Surface Forms
Morphology
The basic meaning — a protective or military force associated with the nation — is directly and predictably derived from combining 'national' (country-level) with 'guard' (a force that protects). Specific institutional details about state vs. federal organization are specialized knowledge, but an average B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it denotes a country-level guarding/military body.
Etymology
National Guard comes from the idea of ordinary people forming a guard for their nation, a local group ready to protect their home. Because these citizen groups could be called out when needed, the name now means a force kept by each state as a 'reserve force' to help in war or emergencies.