Are there regional differences with "ejército" and "armada?"

Question

in the dictionary, "armada" refers to Navy, and "ejército" refers to Army. But my friend in Mexico City says that "armada" means Army, and "ejército" means all the armed forces collectively (army, navy, air force),,,

Can anyone verify this, and if there are other Latin American countries besides Mexico that use those terms differently?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm from Spain, and I've never heard 'armada' used for anything but the Navy. As for Mexicans calling not the Navy, but the Army 'armada', I pretty much doubt that. I just did a simple google search of "armada" in Mexican websites (site:mx) and I only got hits related to the Mexican naval forces. I think your friend is mistaken.

A different thing is talking about 'las fuerzas armadas', which means 'armed forces', and could be perfectly applied to any branch of the military.