"veterans" in the noun sense
1. veteran, veteran soldier
a serviceman who has seen considerable active service
"the veterans laughed at the new recruits"
2. veteran, vet, ex-serviceman
a person who has served in the armed forces
3. veteran, old-timer, oldtimer, old hand, warhorse, old stager, stager
an experienced person who has been through many battles someone who has given long service
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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