1
2
obsolete
: an officer who enforces the judgments of a court or the commands of one in authority
3
: a noncommissioned officer ranking in the army and marine corps above a corporal and below a staff sergeant
broadly
: noncommissioned officer
4
: an officer in a police force ranking in the U.S. just below captain or sometimes lieutenant and in England just below inspector
Examples of sergeant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Matt Jacobsen, a sergeant with the department’s major crimes init, told KPTV that investigators learned that several crimes that occurred in the area in the 48 hours after the shooting were all related, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
—
Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 27 Jan. 2025
The inmate was captured on a security camera entering a sergeant’s office in Lowell’s annex.
—Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2025
Mast, 44, a former resident of Parkland serving his fifth term in Congress, is a former Army sergeant who lost both legs and a finger when a bomb exploded under him in Afghanistan.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2025
On Wednesday, more than a week after the Los Angeles infernos erupted, a sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department, Jeff Rivera, arrived unannounced at the Air Operations office.
—Thomas Fuller, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for sergeant 
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Charlotte Phillipp, People.com, 27 Jan. 2025
The inmate was captured on a security camera entering a sergeant’s office in Lowell’s annex.
—Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 23 Jan. 2025
Mast, 44, a former resident of Parkland serving his fifth term in Congress, is a former Army sergeant who lost both legs and a finger when a bomb exploded under him in Afghanistan.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 21 Jan. 2025
On Wednesday, more than a week after the Los Angeles infernos erupted, a sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department, Jeff Rivera, arrived unannounced at the Air Operations office.
—Thomas Fuller, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for sergeant
Dictionary Entries Near sergeant
Cite this Entry
“Sergeant.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sergeant. Accessed 14 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
sergeant
noun
ser·geant
ˈsär-jənt 
1
: a military noncommissioned officer with any of the ranks above corporal in the army or the marines or above airman first class in the air force
especially
: an enlisted person with the rank just below that of staff sergeant
2
: a police officer ranking in the U.S. just below captain or sometimes lieutenant
Etymology
Middle English sergeant "sergeant, attendant, servant," from early French sergent, serjant (same meaning), from Latin servient-, serviens, a form of the verb servire "to serve"
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