Chetnik

American  

[chet-neek, chet-nik] / tʃɛtˈnik, ˈtʃɛt nɪk /

noun

1. a member of a Serbian nationalist group that fought against the Turks in the early part of the 20th century and carried on guerrilla warfare during World War I and II.

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Chetnik British  

/ ˈtʃɛtnɪk, tʃɛtˈniːk /

noun

1. a Serbian nationalist belonging to a group that fought against the Turks before World War I and engaged in guerrilla warfare during both World Wars

2. a member of a Serbian nationalist paramilitary group fighting to retain Serbian influence in the countries which formerly constituted Yugoslavia

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Etymology

Origin of Chetnik

1905–10; < Serbo-Croatian čȅtnīk guerrilla, equivalent to čȅt ( a ) troop (cognate with Old Russian cheta, Czech četa ) + -nīk agent suffix ( cf. -nik)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Chetnik

"I just happen to have had the traditional Chetnik title of Duke assigned to me."

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week Tito's Government triumphantly announced that they had captured the bushy-bearded, bespectacled Chetnik leader sitting in a mountain cave, guarded by only eleven soldiers of his once-powerful army.

From Time Magazine Archive

General Draja Mihailovich, famed Chetnik leader, and the exiled government of adolescent King Peter in London have held that their forces should be saved for the moment of Allied invasion.

From Time Magazine Archive

Army officers who were with him at Chetnik headquarters.

From Time Magazine Archive

We overtook a file of gloomy, bedraggled German, Croat Ustashi and Chetnik prisoners with Partisan guards in front and a Partisan girl, a rifle across her shoulder, singing in the row of guards behind.

From Time Magazine Archive