legion

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“
[In the time of the Cćsars a legion was always 12,000 men.]

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun The major unit of the Roman army consisting of 3,000 to 6,000 infantry troops and 100 to 200 cavalry troops.
  2. noun A large military unit trained for combat; an army.
  3. noun A large number; a multitude. See Synonyms at multitude.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • An officer who wanted to be more than a colonel, and couldn't be a brigadier, would have a "legion"--a hybrid unit between a regiment and a brigade. —  The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
  • The defection of the last Roman legion was announced to Nero while at dinner in the Golden House. —  Pagan and Christian Rome
  • The quack doctors of the Violin are legion--they are found in every town and city, ready to prey upon the credulity of the lovers of Fiddles, and the injury they inflict on their helpless patients is frequently irreparable. —  The Violin Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators
  • The primipilaris was the commander of the first century of the first cohort of the Roman legion, and hence first in rank among the legion's centurions 17. —  The Last Poems of Ovid
  • Their name is happily legion, and I will conclude these disjointed remarks by quoting from one of them, as honest a parson as ever took tithe or voted for the Tory candidate, the Rev. George Crabbe. —  Obiter Dicta Second Series
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

horde ·  regiment ·  cavalry ·  army ·  squadron ·  host ·  throng ·  swarm ·  cohort ·  squad ·  multitude ·  horseman

Used in the same contextWord Family

legion:   legions
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English legioun, from Old French legion, from Latin legiō, legiōn-, from legere, to gather; see leg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English legiun, legioun, legion, from Old French legion, French légion = Spanish legion = Portuguese legião = Italian legione = Greek λεγεών, λεγιών, from Latin legio (n -), a Roman legion, from legere, gather, select, = Greek λέγειν, collect: see legend.
  2. from legion, n.
 

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/ˈlidʒən/
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