Dictionary

phalanx en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈfeɪˌlæŋks/ (US)
• /fəˈlæŋks/ (Australia, UK)
• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈfælæŋks/ (Australia, UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin phalanx or Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “battle order; array”). Doublet of phalange, planch, plancha, planche, and plank.

Meanings

1. (historical) An ancient Greek and Macedonian military unit that consisted of several ranks and files (lines) of soldiers in close array with joined shields and long spears.
2. A large group of people, animals or things, compact or closely massed, or tightly knit and united in common purpose.
   • For a short time the two phalanges of men faced each other at a distance apart. 2009, Maria Nugent, “[In between] The second day”, in Captain Cook Was Here, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 58:
   • Broad phalanx of cars across the bridge moving slowly through the streaming snow. 1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 331:
   • The Guardian today listed a phalanx of ministers who back the bill, including Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, Tony McNulty, the policing minister, Andy Burnham, the junior health minister, Ian Pearson, the climate change minister, John Healey, the financial secretary to the Treasury, and Keith Hill, parliamentary private secretary to Tony Blair. 2007 April 25, Hélène Mulholland, “Blair refuses to condemn FoI bill”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2014:
   • From Courbevoie to the Hôtel des Invalides, one walked through a hedge of elaborate decorations—of bees, eagles, crowns, N’s; of bucklers, banners, and wreaths bearing the names of famous victories; of urns blazing with incense; of rostral columns; masts bearing trophies of arms and clusters of flags; flaming tripods; allegorical statues; triumphal arches; great banks of seats draped in imperial purple and packed with spectators, and phalanges of soldiers. 1895, Ida M[inerva] Tarbell, “The Second Funeral of Napoleon.—Removal of Napoleon’s Remains from St. Helena to the Banks of the Seine in 1840.”, in A Short Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, New York, N.Y.: S[amuel] S[idney] MᶜClure, Limited […], page 240, column 1:
   • But there was no man to greet them in the market-place, and no woman's face appeared at the windows - only a bodiless voice went before them, calling: "Fallen is Imperial Kôr! - fallen! - fallen! fallen!" On, right through the city, marched those gleaming phalanxes, and the rattle of their bony tread echoed through the silent air as they pressed grimly on. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • The monarch hath gone, but his rocky throne Still rests on its frowning base; Its motionless guards rise in phalanx lone, And nought save the winds through their helmets that moan, And none but those bosoms and hearts of stone Sigh o'er a fallen race. 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, The Chair of the Indian KIng, page 93:
   • There, the Paisleyites were being held back by another phalanx of soldiers and policemen. 2007 May 6, Sean O'Hagan, “The day I thought would never come: This week, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness will astonish those who experienced the Troubles”, in The Guardian, London, archived from the original on 03 Oct 2014:
   • The next day, phalanges of soldiers blocked all entrances to the city as rumours that Muslim workers from all around Calcutta would throng the venue of the meeting in protest reached the commissioner of the city Police. 2022, Sugata Nandi, “Insurrectionary city: Revolts in colonial Calcutta, 1918–1946”, in Urvi Mukhopadhyay, Suchandra Ghosh, editors, Exploring South Asian Urbanity, Routledge, →DOI, →ISBN, part V (Urban fringes and insurrections), chapter section “The mass and Gandhi Raj, 1918–1922”:
3. (historical) A Fourierite utopian community; a phalanstery.
   • [Charles Fourier] calculated that if precisely 1,620 men, women and children were collected in a 6,000-acre phalanx, they would — all by merrily following their individual passions — end up satisfying all the phalanx’s essential needs. 2009 April 16, Jon Mooallem, “The End Is Near! (Yay!)”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
4. One of the bones of the finger or toe.
5. A bundle of stamens, in diadelphous and polyadelphous flowers.

Forms

Deriveds

middle phalanx · intermediate phalanx · mesophalanx · interphalanx · distal phalanx · proximal phalanx

Relateds

phalangal · phalangite · phalangeal

Synonyms

phalangeal · phalange

Translations (100)

ro falangă (ancient Greek military unit) · sh фаланга (finger or toe bone) · la phalanx (ancient Greek military unit) · sk článok prstu (finger or toe bone) · mr फॅलँक्स (ancient Greek military unit) · ro falangă (finger or toe bone) · oc falanja (finger or toe bone) · sh фаланга (large group of people) · is kjúka (finger or toe bone) · vi phalanx (ancient Greek military unit) · kmr hestiyên pêçiyê (finger or toe bone) · pl falanga (ancient Greek military unit) · ga falang (ancient Greek military unit) · ru фала́нга (large group of people) · sh falanga (ancient Greek military unit) · es falange (ancient Greek military unit) · ar سُلَامِيَّة (finger or toe bone) · sv falang (ancient Greek military unit) · ja 趾骨 (finger or toe bone) · bg фала́нга (finger or toe bone) · mk фаланга (ancient Greek military unit) · hy փաղանգ (ancient Greek military unit) · gl falanxe (finger or toe bone) · ru суста́в па́льца (finger or toe bone) · bg фаланга (ancient Greek military unit) · fi varpaanluu (finger or toe bone) · yi פֿינגערביינדל (finger or toe bone) · he גָּלִיל (finger or toe bone) · cmn 指骨 (finger or toe bone) · pl falanga (large group of people) · sh фаланга (ancient Greek military unit) · ga falang (finger or toe bone) · fi falangi (large group of people) · uk фала́нга (ancient Greek military unit) · sh falanga (finger or toe bone) · cmn 趾骨 (finger or toe bone) · yi פֿאַלאַנקס (ancient Greek military unit) · ja 指骨 (finger or toe bone) · be фала́нга (ancient Greek military unit) · it orda (large group of people) · pl paliczek (finger or toe bone) · nl kootje (finger or toe bone) · ar سُلَامَى (finger or toe bone) · ko 지골 (finger or toe bone) · cmn 方陣 /方阵 (ancient Greek military unit) · sq tufë trima (ancient Greek military unit) · cs článek prstu (finger or toe bone) · pt falange (ancient Greek military unit) · ca falange (ancient Greek military unit) · ja ファランクス (ancient Greek military unit) · fr phalange (finger or toe bone) · uk фала́нга (finger or toe bone) · ru фала́нга (ancient Greek military unit) · fi sormiluu (finger or toe bone) · yi פֿינגער־פֿאַלאַנגע (finger or toe bone) · yi פֿינגערביין (finger or toe bone) · vo teanabomil (finger or toe bone) · cs falanga (ancient Greek military unit) · grc φάλαγξ (ancient Greek military unit) · ca falange (finger or toe bone) · nl falanx (ancient Greek military unit) · kmr hestiyên tilîyê (finger or toe bone) · is kjúka (ancient Greek military unit) · pl falanga (large group of animals, plants, or people) · eo falango (finger or toe bone) · ru фала́нга (finger or toe bone) · vo doatabomil (finger or toe bone) · it falange (ancient Greek military unit) · mk фаланга (large group of people) · gl falanxe (ancient Greek military unit) · mk фаланга (finger or toe bone) · mi iwi mati (finger or toe bone) · es falange (finger or toe bone) · de Phalanx (ancient Greek military unit) · ca falange (large group of people) · da falanks (ancient Greek military unit) · cy ffalang (finger or toe bone) · fi falangi (ancient Greek military unit) · pt falange (finger or toe bone) · el φάλαγγα (large group of people) · hu ujjperc (finger or toe bone) · el φάλαγγα (finger or toe bone) · de Fingerglied (finger or toe bone) · fr phalange (ancient Greek military unit) · it falange (finger or toe bone) · de Zehenglied (finger or toe bone) · sq falang (ancient Greek military unit) · hy մատնահատված (finger or toe bone) · eo falango (ancient Greek military unit) · be фала́нга (finger or toe bone) · ms falanks (finger or toe bone) · sh falanga (large group of people) · da falanks (finger or toe bone) · sv falang (finger or toe bone) · it orda (large group of animals, plants, or people) · sl falanga (ancient Greek military unit) · yi פֿאַלאַנגע (ancient Greek military unit) · nb falang (finger or toe bone) · el φάλαγγα (ancient Greek military unit) · la phalanga (ancient Greek military unit)