foot soldier
noun
1
2
: a person likened to an infantryman especially in doing active and usually unglamorous work in support of an organization or movement
foot soldiers in the war against drugs
Examples of foot soldier in a Sentence
foot soldiers in the war against drugs
he's been a foot soldier for several environmental organizations over the years
Recent Examples on the Web
Many of his foot soldiers are young software engineers with no government experience who have parachuted into federal agencies seeking to overhaul or even dismantle them.
—
Theodore Schleifer, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2025
Musk, who typically posts between 50 and 100 tweets per day, is taking the bottom-up approach by letting foot soldiers supply suggestions that get seen — and acted on — by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
—Neal Rothschild, Axios, 8 Feb. 2025
Wright’s meticulous history operates as a sort of panopticon on the events leading up to that fateful day, spanning more than five decades and a geopolitical guest list that includes everyone from the counterterrorism chief of the F.B.I. to the anonymous foot soldiers of Al Qaeda.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
Professional officers are not, in fact, dependable foot soldiers because their allegiances lie elsewhere: with the constitutional regime or with the armed forces as an institution.
—Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foot soldier
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Theodore Schleifer, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2025
Musk, who typically posts between 50 and 100 tweets per day, is taking the bottom-up approach by letting foot soldiers supply suggestions that get seen — and acted on — by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
—Neal Rothschild, Axios, 8 Feb. 2025
Wright’s meticulous history operates as a sort of panopticon on the events leading up to that fateful day, spanning more than five decades and a geopolitical guest list that includes everyone from the counterterrorism chief of the F.B.I. to the anonymous foot soldiers of Al Qaeda.
—New York Times, 8 July 2024
Professional officers are not, in fact, dependable foot soldiers because their allegiances lie elsewhere: with the constitutional regime or with the armed forces as an institution.
—Ronald R. Krebs, Foreign Affairs, 14 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for foot soldier
Cite this Entry
“Foot soldier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foot%20soldier. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share