battalia

B3A1T1T1A1L1I1A1

noun

Order of battle; disposition or arrangement of troops or of a naval force, ready for action.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

nounbattalia (countable and uncountable, plural battalias)

plural battalias

  1. obsoleteuncountableOrder of battle; disposition or arrangement of troops or of a naval force, ready for action.

    Two rival armies all the plain o'erspread, / Each in battalia rang'd, and shining arms array'd

    1695, William Congreve, “To the King on the taking of Namur”, in A Complete Edition of the British Poets, volume 7, London: John & Arthur Arch, published 1795, stanza IV, page 537
    1 more example

    […]but we find, by a sad experience, that few questions are well stated; and when they are, they are not consented to; and when they are agreed on by both sides that they are well stated, it is nothing else but a drawing up the armies in battalia with great skill and discipline; the next thing they do is, they thrust their swords into one another's sides.

    1651, Jeremy Taylor, “Sermon VI”, in The Sermons of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, Philadelphia: H. Hooker, published 1845, pages 456–457
  2. countableobsoleteAn army in battle array; also, the main battalia or body of the army, as distinct from the vanguard and rear.

    Why, our battalia trebles that account

    c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, act 5, scene 3, line 11

Origin

  1. Latinbattuō“to strike, beat”
  2. Late Latinbattālia
  3. Englishbattalia

Borrowed from Late Latin battālia, variant of battuālia (“military exercises”), from Latin battuō (“to strike, beat”), from Gaulish. Doublet of battle.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

battalia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/battalia

MLA

“battalia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/battalia. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “battalia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/battalia.

Source: battalia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.