Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun echelon

2 senses of echelon

Sense 1
echelon -- (a body of troops arranged in a line)
       => military unit, military force, military group, force -- (a unit that is part of some military service; "he sent Caesar a force of six thousand men")

Sense 2
echelon -- (a diffraction grating consisting of a pile of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset)
       => diffraction grating, grating -- (optical device consisting of a surface with many parallel grooves in it; disperses a beam of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) into its wavelengths to produce its spectrum)