as in guardians
a person or group that watches over someone or something
a lone sentinel kept watch over the fort
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sentinels
Here and there, fire, wind, and flood would have broken the forest into a mosaic of old and new, grass and forest, shrubs and sentinels.
—
Literary Hub,
10 June 2026
At the end of one of the castle’s walkways, after a turn or two—by electric cart, bicycle, or on foot—and with the air filled with the scent of pine, rosemary, and jasmine, the sentinels are waiting, carved into the rock where the fort’s cannons were once located.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
Corkie putting the snake into the tub looks like the sentinels or the wire going into people’s pods.
—
Nick Newman,
IndieWire,
1 June 2026
And for decades, billboards with Smart’s smiling face stood like sentinels along Highway 101, silently urging anyone with information to come forward.
—
Chelsea Bailey,
CNN Money,
8 May 2026
Precedent for this idea comes from Poland, where many cities already use freshwater mussels as living sentinels of water quality, wired with sensors that register when the animals clamp their shells shut in response to pollutants.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
31 Mar. 2026
That majestic array of green-gray gneiss sentinels may be the most conceptually elaborate Neolithic monument in Europe.
—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Arizona’s iconic saguaro cactuses seem like immobile sentinels standing watch over the Sonoran desert landscape.
—
John Leos,
AZCentral.com,
10 Nov. 2025
The satellite, Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1), is launching just in time, as scientists warn our aging fleet of solar sentinels is reaching the end of its life.
—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Literary Hub,
10 June 2026
At the end of one of the castle’s walkways, after a turn or two—by electric cart, bicycle, or on foot—and with the air filled with the scent of pine, rosemary, and jasmine, the sentinels are waiting, carved into the rock where the fort’s cannons were once located.
—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
2 June 2026
Corkie putting the snake into the tub looks like the sentinels or the wire going into people’s pods.
—
Nick Newman,
IndieWire,
1 June 2026
And for decades, billboards with Smart’s smiling face stood like sentinels along Highway 101, silently urging anyone with information to come forward.
—
Chelsea Bailey,
CNN Money,
8 May 2026
Precedent for this idea comes from Poland, where many cities already use freshwater mussels as living sentinels of water quality, wired with sensors that register when the animals clamp their shells shut in response to pollutants.
—
IEEE Spectrum,
31 Mar. 2026
That majestic array of green-gray gneiss sentinels may be the most conceptually elaborate Neolithic monument in Europe.
—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2025
Arizona’s iconic saguaro cactuses seem like immobile sentinels standing watch over the Sonoran desert landscape.
—
John Leos,
AZCentral.com,
10 Nov. 2025
The satellite, Space Weather Follow-On L1 (SWFO-L1), is launching just in time, as scientists warn our aging fleet of solar sentinels is reaching the end of its life.
—
Daisy Dobrijevic,
Space.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sentinels
Noun
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Instead, the decision is left to parents and guardians.
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For minors who are 16 or 17, parents or guardians must be consulted in the decision-making process, but their consent is not required.
Noun
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The 2026 class has been considered one of the deepest and most talented in recent memory, headlined by a quartet of generational one-and-dones as well as explosive guards and elite veteran forwards.
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After the top four picks, the draft was considered wide open with a logjam of talented guards.
Noun
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Williams has never lacked interpreters, custodians, handlers, or rescuers with pruning shears.
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Some custodians give checkbooks to IRA owners.
Noun
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Gill leads the keepers in defending the goal, followed by Gregor Kobel (Switzerland), Beiranvand, Diogo Costa (Portugal), Benjamin Asare (Ghana), Mostafa Shoubir (Egypt), Eloy Room (Curacao), Pickford, Vozinha, and Mohammed Alowais (Saudi Arabia).
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Born in a facility out West, Yonnie was about 3 months old when she and her companion bear, Kodiak, were flown to Charlotte to meet their new keepers, officials said.
Noun
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The juvenile bear’s wander across campus late Thursday and early Friday prompted an advisory to students and a search by UC Davis police and wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as well as Yolo County Animal Control.
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The state wardens and other cops who knew and worked with Bob Markle weren’t just honoring his memory by attending his funeral.
Noun
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Finally, unable to stand down the household guard on her own, Alicent confesses her scheme to Helaena, who orders the sentries on the ramparts to hold fire when Rhaenyra flies in on Syrax.
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The soldiers would have stayed as sentries before and after the performance, symbolically guarding the legacy of Taiwan’s founder.
Noun
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Francis Ford Coppola meditates on the question of who is watching the watchmen in The Conversation, a neo-noir mystery thriller about the human side of surveillance.
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Ideas like reparative journalism and sousveillance — an antonym for surveillance, concerning watching the watchmen in a reversal of power — earn fleeting mentions, but are never the focus of actual inquiry.
Cite this Entry
“Sentinels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sentinels. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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