Meaning of "veteran" as a noun for a person in British English [closed]

british-english meaning

In British English, if "veteran" is used as a noun to refer to a person, without saying what they are a veteran of, does it default to mean veteran in the sense of military service?


The primary meaning of 'veteran' seems to be a soldier, sailor, etc. in a war, but as it comes from Latin veteranus and vetus 'old' might be modified by 'of ...' or Saxon Genetiv. So we may find 'a veteran' as a person who served in Armed Forces for a period of time or in specific formation/conflict (Navy veteran, WWII veteran, veteran of Afghan War, etc.), but at the same time it may denote a person who participated in some activity for a long period of time (beauty contests' veteran, car races' veteran, etc.)

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