Brigade

//bɹɪˈɡeɪd// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A group of people organized for a common purpose.

    "a work brigade; a fire brigade"

  2. 2
    army unit smaller than a division, typically consisting of a small number of battalions wordnet
  3. 3
    Military unit composed of several regiments (or battalions) and including soldiers from different arms of service.
  4. 4
    A group of people who share views or a specific characteristic. derogatory

    "More sympathy for career criminals from the bleeding-heart brigade!"

  5. 5
    Coordinated online harassment, disruption or influencing, especially organized by an antagonistic website or community. Internet

    "We've definitely seen an increase in abusive content since certain areas began COVID lockdowns and stay home orders, we suspect because of the growth of people having time to waste doing these sorts of brigades."

Verb
  1. 1
    To form or unite into a brigade; to group together.

    "This is, however, a classic case where speech is brigaded with action."

  2. 2
    form or unite into a brigade wordnet
  3. 3
    To harass an individual or community online in a coordinated manner. Internet

Example

More examples

"The fire brigade was on the scene within five minutes of receiving the call."

Etymology

Borrowed from French brigade.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.