paramilitary

American  

[par-uh-mil-i-ter-ee] / ˌpær əˈmɪl ɪˌtɛr i /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to an organization operating as, in place of, or as a supplement to a regular military force.

   a paramilitary police unit.

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noun

• paramilitaries
  plural

1. Also paramilitarist a person employed in such a force.

paramilitary British  

/ ˌpærəˈmɪlɪtərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. denoting or relating to a group of personnel with military structure functioning either as a civil force or in support of military forces

2. denoting or relating to a force with military structure conducting armed operations against a ruling or occupying power

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noun

1. 1. a paramilitary force

   2. a member of such a force

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paramilitaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paramilitary

First recorded in 1930–35; para- ¹ + military

Explanation

A group that's described as being paramilitary resembles an organized army. During the American Revolutionary War, the minutemen were a paramilitary group that fought in the earliest battles. When civilians organize themselves (or are organized) into a group that appears to be military, or that assists actual military troops, that's a paramilitary organization. You can also call it, simply, a paramilitary. The early twentieth century word combines the prefix para-, "near" or "resembling," and military, from its Latin root militaris, "of soldiers or war."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paramilitary paramilitaries

Like its paramilitary predecessor, the Wagner group, the Africa Corps is officially in the Sahel region to help tackle that violence.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Euphemistically known as “mobile lounges,” these hulking, 40-ton machines from the 1960s and ’70s look and feel like paramilitary vehicles trundling through a desert dystopia.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

Officers also dismantled the protesters' stage and makeshift tents at Jantar Mantar, but demonstrators have refused to leave, maintaining a round-the-clock sit-in under heavy police and paramilitary deployment.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary arm of the regime, has mostly used one-way drones or other short-range projectiles launched from fastboats or from the coastline.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

Komsomol-sponsored activities and paramilitary training through the Osoaviakhim helped young people to prove their Communist Party loyalty.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

It also had “what was in effect a formidable army of 40,000 paramilitaries, and it had a foreign policy. It was independent enough to launch a war.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Her emergency contact Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst, told CBS that Kittleson had been warned by the US government about a specific threat to her from Iran-backed paramilitaries.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

Colombia is also trying to emerge from 50 years of fighting spawned by a complex blend of leftist rebels, paramilitaries and drug lords.

From Barron's ● Mar. 8, 2026

Sudan's civil war erupted in April 2023 out of a power struggle between the regular army and the RSF over how and whether the paramilitaries would integrate into the security forces.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026

Her husband was an Arab, and there were Israeli paramilitaries on the ground in the city.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers