What does "rearguard" mean?

The rearmost part of a force, especially a detachment of troops that protect the rear of a retreating force.

How do you pronounce "rearguard"?

Pronounced //ˈɹɪəɹˌɡɑɹd//.

//ˈɹɪəɹˌɡɑɹd// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
The rearmost part of a force, especially a detachment of troops that protect the rear of a retreating force. attributive, often
2
a detachment assigned to protect the rear of a (retreating) military body wordnet
3
The defence, collectively the defenders. attributive, often
"Mancini's side only showed enough ambition when it was too late and by then battle lines were drawn as James Collins and former City captain Richard Dunne fought a magnificent rearguard action at the heart of Villa's defence."

"An army was divided into the vanguard, the rearguard and the main body."

From rear + guard. Attested in The Song of Roland c. 1150 (rereguarde). Doublet of retrogarde.

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