reveille

noun

rev·​eil·​le ˈre-və-lē How to pronounce reveille (audio)
 British  ri-ˈva-lē,
 or  -ˈve-
1
: a signal to get up mornings
2
: a bugle call at about sunrise signaling the first military formation of the day
also : the formation so signaled

Examples of reveille in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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.
Luggage lined up in Dallas terminals like dwarf soldiers in a nightmare reveille. Dan Zak, Washington Post, 28 Dec. 2022 The two-minute silence across the U.K. marked the end of the service, along with a reveille, the national anthem, and a royal piper playing a lament. Time, 19 Sep. 2022 Fort Sam Houston Museum Director Jacqueline Davis noted that as early as the 1840s, armed forces used a drum roll with reveille after sunrise and retreat at sunset to gather the troops for roll call. René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 5 Feb. 2020 Inmates in Theresienstadt are forced to stand in the freezing November cold during morning reveille: The camp commandant wants to test out a little theory he’s developed about the effects of hypothermia. Toby Lichtig, WSJ, 21 Feb. 2020 Two hundred and forty-one marines, most of them asleep because reveille was still eight minutes away, were killed. Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2019 Her command is also a reveille, though, summoning the age-old Disney work ethic. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019 Those rehearsals have been, in good reveille fashion, in full swing by 7:30 in the morning. Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 11 June 2018 Codie Williams has been a bugler at the barracks, the only Marine post in the country to still blow a live horn for the daily calls of reveille, church, chow, etc. Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 11 June 2018

Word History

Etymology

modification of French réveillez, imperative plural of réveiller to awaken, from Middle French reveiller, from re- + eveiller to awaken, from Vulgar Latin *exvigilare, from Latin ex- + vigilare to keep watch, stay awake — more at vigilant

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of reveille was in 1644

Dictionary Entries Near reveille

Cite this Entry

“Reveille.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reveille. Accessed 3 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

reveille

noun
rev·​eil·​le ˈrev-ə-lē How to pronounce reveille (audio)
1
: a signal to get up in the morning
2
: a bugle call at about sunrise signaling the first military formation of the day
Etymology

from French réveillez "wake up!"

More from Merriam-Webster on reveille

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!