comrade

Alternative forms

• comrad

Etymology

From late Middle English comered, from Middle French camarade, from Spanish camarada or Italian camerata, from Medieval Latin *camarata, from Latin camara, camera (“a chamber”); see chamber. Compare camaraderie.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmɹæd/, /ˈkɑmɹəd/
• (Republic of Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʊmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/
• (Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmɹeɪd/, /ˈkʌmɹeɪd/, /-ɹeːd/

Noun

comrade (plural comrades)

1. A mate, companion, or associate.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XIII, page 20:

     [… these tears] Which weep the comrade of my choice,
     ⁠An awful thought, a life removed,
     ⁠The human-hearted man I loved,
     A spirit, not a breathing voice.

2. A companion in battle; fellow soldier.
   • 2019, Antony Beevor, chapter 16, in Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944, Penguin Books, page 194:

     Wierzbowski and his men were so exhausted that they could hardly stay awake, but they knew they could not abandon their wounded comrades.

4. (communism) A fellow socialist, communist or other similarly politically aligned person.

   Hello, comrade. Are you going to the Communist Party meeting tonight?

5. (communism) A non-hierarchical title, functionally similar to "Mr.", "Mrs.", "Miss", "Ms." etc, in a communist, socialist, or Islamist state.

   Comrade Lenin inspired our people to undertake great works.

Verb

comrade (third-person singular simple present comrades, present participle comrading, simple past and past participle comraded)

1. (intransitive) To associate with someone in a friendly way.
   • 1916, Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger:

     But she was happy, for she was far away under another sky, and comrading again with her Rangers, and her animal friends, and the soldiers.

Anagrams

• DeMarco, Demarco, Mercado, caromed, dome car