militarism

American  

[mil-i-tuh-riz-uhm] / ˈmɪl ɪ təˌrɪz əm /

noun

1. a strong military spirit or policy.

2. the principle or policy of maintaining a large military establishment.

3. the tendency to regard military efficiency as the supreme ideal of the state and to subordinate all other interests to those of the military.

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militarism British  

/ ˈmɪlɪtəˌrɪzəm /

noun

1. military spirit; pursuit of military ideals

2. domination by the military in the formulation of policies, ideals, etc, esp on a political level

3. a policy of maintaining a strong military organization in aggressive preparedness for war

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Other Word Forms

• antimilitarism
  noun
• promilitarism
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of militarism

1860–65; < French militarisme, equivalent to militar- (< Latin mīlitār ( is ) military ) + -isme -ism

Explanation

Places where armed government forces have a strong presence are usually under militarism. A system of militarism would probably buy weapons and outfit soldiers before anything else. Some countries govern through militarism to keep their territories under strong and often bullied rule and to let other countries know that they have guns and bombs and they're not afraid to use them — even on their own people. Militarism often is paired with other nouns like dictatorship showing the strict power of the leadership.

Example Sentences

Militarism assumes that war is a permanent feature of the human condition, and hence that nations must maintain armies to protect themselves from each other.

From Scientific American • Sep. 28, 2022

Tom Digby, a philosopher and author of the brilliant book, "Love and War: How Militarism Shapes Sexuality and Romance," identifies this largely obsolete conception of manhood as "warrior masculinity."

From Salon • Aug. 22, 2020

His thinking on China was laid out in two books: Death by China and Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World.

From The Guardian • Mar. 11, 2018

Mr. Navarro is a former business professor at the University of California at Irvine, where he wrote books entitled “Death by China” and “Crouching Tiger: What China’s Militarism Means for the World.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2018

Militarism is a belief in the need to have a strong and aggressive military that is in a constant state of readiness.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz