insignia
See also: insígnia
English
WOTD – 12 January 2010

Insignia of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir.
Etymology
From Latin īnsīgnia, nominative plural of īnsīgne (“emblem, token, symbol”). Doublet of ensign.
Noun
insignia (plural insignias or insignia)
- A patch or other object that indicates a person's official or military rank, or membership in a group or organization.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:badge
- 2019 March 18, Steven Pifer, Five years after Crimea’s illegal annexation, the issue is no closer to resolution, The Center for International Security and Cooperation:
- The little green men were clearly professional soldiers by their bearing, carried Russian weapons, and wore Russian combat fatigues, but they had no identifying insignia. Vladimir Putin originally denied they were Russian soldiers; that April, he confirmed they were.
- A symbol or token of personal power, status, or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction.
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter VI, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
- The former Protector tendered him the oaths, and presented him with the insignia of office, performing the ceremonies of installation.
- (figurative) A mark or token by which anything is known.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 80:
- But if autumn wear the insignia of nature's royalty, its purple and gold, in only the shaded lane or the green field with its one or two old trees, what is its more than eastern pomp in a wooded empire like the New Forest!
- 2006, P. Goodrich, The Laws of Love: A Brief Historical and Practical Manual, page 49:
- Rule 23: “The stress of love makes it hard to eat and sleep.” To these empirical laws we can add the various other insignia of love.
Usage notes
Synonyms
- insigne (dated)
Translations
a patch or other object that indicates rank or membership
|
symbol or token of power, status, or office
|
Further reading
- “insignia”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “insignia”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- Ngrams
Galician
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /inˈsiŋnja/ [inˈs̺iŋ.njɐ]
- Rhymes: -iŋnja
- Hyphenation: in‧sig‧nia
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /inˈsiɡ.ni.a/, [ĩːˈs̠ɪŋniä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /inˈsiɲ.ɲi.a/, [inˈsiɲːiä]
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /inˈsiɡnja/ [ĩnˈsiɣ̞.nja]
- Rhymes: -iɡnja
- Syllabification: in‧sig‧nia
Derived terms
Further reading
- “insignia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.