warlord
Americannoun
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a military leader, especially of a warlike nation.
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a military commander who has seized power, especially in one section of a country.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of warlord
Explanation
An aggressive military commander with extremely loyal forces is sometimes called a warlord. Warlords usually control a small territory within a country. According to political scientists, warlords tend to gain power following the fall of a large empire and the rise of small, weak states in its place. The main thing distinguishing warlords from other types of rulers is that they have loyal followers who are well armed and obedient to the individual warlord rather than the actual government. The term warlord dates from the 1850s, but it wasn't common until the 1920s.
Vocabulary lists containing warlord
Africa - Middle School
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Africa - High School
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The Middle East and Central Asia - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is a warrior ethos that we see here come under question as Murashige and his castle look increasingly boxed in by the attacking warlord.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
“The representation of Odysseus as a reluctant warlord makes a nonsense of the movie’s imagined world,” she writes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
The region is replete with dissidents loyal to warlord Nestor Gregorio Vera Fernandez -- better known as Ivan Mordisco, Colombia's most wanted guerrilla.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
In 2016, he struck a deal with a Karen warlord Saw Chit Thu, who controls territory in Myanmar along the Moei River, to build a new city together.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2025
“The man you know as Serakeen—the bloodthirsty warlord, the Scourge of the East—is a fabrication, a useful myth we’ve concocted. But I’m afraid he doesn’t exist.”
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
