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phalanx

/ˌfeɪˈlæŋks/
/ˈfælænks/
IPA guide

Other forms: phalanges; phalanxes

A phalanx is a tightly knit group of people or things, like an army troop or a bunch of fans of the same band.

Phalanx refers to any tightly formed group of soldiers or officers, and historically defines a body of Macedonian infantry whose shields overlapped. From that sense, it came to mean any close-knit group. Another definition of phalanx — any bone in a finger or toe — also came out of the military sense: these bones work together closely, just like a military phalanx. The plural for these bones is phalanges, while the plural for the other senses is phalanxes.

Definitions of phalanx
  1. noun
    any closely ranked crowd of people
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    type of:
    crowd
    a large number of things or people considered together
  2. noun
    a body of troops in close array
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    type of:
    force, military force, military group, military unit
    a unit that is part of some military service
  3. noun
    any of the bones of the fingers or toes
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    type of:
    bone, os
    rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
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