insignia

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See also: insígnia

English[edit]

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Insignia of the Soviet/Russian space station Mir.

Etymology[edit]

From Latin īnsīgnia, nominative plural of īnsīgne (“emblem, token, symbol”). Doublet of ensign.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ɪnˈsɪɡ.ni.ə/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun[edit]

insignia (plural insignias or insignia)

  1. 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[1], 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.
  2. A symbol or token of personal power, status, or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction.
  3. (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[edit]

  • Insignia originated in Latin as the plural of īnsīgne, but in English it had begun to be used as a singular by the 18th century (as in "an insignia...", "the insignia is..."). This is now standard; the use of insigne is now uncommon.[1][2][3]

Synonyms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

insignia

  1. plural of insignium
  2. plural of insigne

Further reading[edit]

  1. ^ “insignia”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  2. ^ “insignia”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  3. ^ Ngrams

Galician[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun[edit]

insignia f (plural insignias)

  1. pin, badge

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

īnsignia

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of īnsigne

Spanish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /inˈsiɡnja/ [ĩnˈsiɣ̞.nja]
  • Rhymes: -iɡnja
  • Syllabification: in‧sig‧nia

Noun[edit]

insignia f (plural insignias)

  1. badge, insignia

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

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