Skip to main content
landing party

landing party

7 4.9
A group of people from a ship who go ashore to do a task
  • noun
translation icon : grupo de desembarco
  • The commander called for a landing party to secure the beachhead before the main troops arrived.
  • send a landing party
  • landing party ashore

Examples

  • Their rescue had been close; none of the landing party had had a sip of water for nearly twenty-four hours.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The landing party from the Enterprise, consisting of Captain Kirk, Scotty, Bones, and Spock, beamed down onto the surface of the strange new unexplored world.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Then you can pick a landing party.

  • "It's left over from our landing party."

    Fiction book (1999)
  • A landing party will be sent out after due time.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • I say we prepare a landing party.

  • The landing party will be divided into four groups.

  • The landing party remained on the Kalandan station.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Most of the crew struggled ashore and were taken prisoner by a landing party from the destroyer.

    Blog text (25)
  • For a moment, all merged in brilliant colors as the landing party filed shoreward along the jetty, the goose-stepping joker in blue-black and salmon, topped by cockscomb and bells, at the head of the line.

    Fiction book (1999)

Synonyms

party
vslanding party
498 1.4

A group of people who go somewhere together to do one activity

is sent ashore from a ship to perform exploration, military action, or rescue

How Big

force
2.3
expedition
358 4.1
team
1.0
landing party
7 4.9
detachment
19 6.7
squad
702 2.4

Surface Forms

landing party singular

Morphology

landing + party

The meaning 'a group of people from a ship sent ashore' is directly derivable from combining 'landing' (the act of coming ashore or descending) and 'party' (a contingent or group). This is a compositional noun phrase following common patterns in English (and mirrored in many other languages), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Landing party comes from the simple picture of a small group: landing (coming onto the shore) and party (a group) leaving a ship to do a job on land. So, the phrase means 'a group sent ashore to do a task, for example to explore, help, or fight'.