Brigade: An Army Unit, a Fire Service, and a Kitchen
A brigade is a large military formation of several battalions. The word has spread to fire services, restaurant kitchens, and any group with a single-minded cause.
A brigade in the army sits between a battalion and a division, usually a few thousand soldiers under one commander. Outside the army the word simply means an organised body. When used of a cause it turns mocking: the anti-litter brigade are not soldiers, and the speaker does not admire them.
- A large military unit. *An infantry brigade.*
- An organised body of workers. *The fire brigade arrived within minutes.*
- A kitchen staff structure. *The brigade de cuisine.*
- A group with a shared obsession (mocking). *The health and safety brigade.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | brigade | A tank brigade. |
| Person | brigadier | Promoted to brigadier. |
| Verb | brigade | The units were brigaded together. |
| Compound | fire brigade | Call the fire brigade. |
| Related | battalion | Three battalions to a brigade. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The brigade was deployed to the northern sector.Takes a singular verb in American English, sometimes plural in British.
- The fire brigade cut him free from the wreckage.British term; Americans say fire department.
- He dismissed critics as the nanny-state brigade.Dismissive, and always slightly sneering.
Army units, smallest to largest
- Squad — around ten soldiers
- Platoon — three or four squads
- Company — several platoons
- Battalion — several companies
- Brigade — two or more battalions
- Division — several brigades
From Italian *brigata*, a troop or company, from *briga*, strife. The kitchen sense comes from Auguste Escoffier, who reorganised professional kitchens on military lines in the late nineteenth century and called the result a brigade.
Fire brigade or fire department?
Brigade in Britain, Ireland and much of the Commonwealth; department in the United States and Canada.
Why does brigade sound sarcastic in politics?
Because it casts a loose group of people as an organised force with orders, which exaggerates and belittles them at once.