guerrilla

American  

[guh-ril-uh] / gəˈrɪl ə /

Or guerilla

noun

• guerrillas
  plural

1. a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc.

---

adjective

1. pertaining to such fighters or their technique of warfare: guerrilla tactics.

   guerrilla strongholds;

   guerrilla tactics.

2. of or relating to an unauthorized, edgy, or disruptive version of an activity: guerilla gardening to beautify an abandoned lot.

   guerrilla filmmaking on a busy sidewalk;

   guerilla gardening to beautify an abandoned lot.

guerrilla British  

/ ɡəˈrɪlə /

noun

1. 1. a member of an irregular usually politically motivated armed force that combats stronger regular forces, such as the army or police

   2. ( as modifier )

      guerrilla warfare

2. a form of vegetative spread in which the advance is from several individual rhizomes or stolons growing rapidly away from the centre, as in some clovers Compare phalanx

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antiguerrilla
  noun
• guerrillaism
  noun
• counterguerrilla
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• guerrillas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of guerrilla

First recorded in 1800–10; from Spanish, diminutive of guerra “war” (of Germanic origin) + -illa diminutive suffix; originally in reference to the Spanish resistance against Napoleon; the name for the struggle erroneously taken as a personal noun; cf. war ¹, -elle

Explanation

If your brother says he’s going to become a guerrilla, he's not planning to become a hairy animal. Guerrilla fighters band together in a small underground army, usually trying to overcome a larger and more organized force. Guerrilla and gorilla are pronounced the same — which makes it easy to remember how to say guerrilla — but they have different meanings. In Spanish, guerra means "war" and guerrilla means “little army.” Guerrilla fighters tend to work in small groups and use ambush and sabotage to surprise stronger, more traditional forces. You might have heard of Che Guevara, a famous guerrilla fighter who was involved in the Cuban Revolution.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

guerrilla guerrillas

"It makes us a little nervous," said Darwin, who says he became a guerrilla due to a lack of work in his coca-growing region.

From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026

Comedy duo Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol used guerrilla filmmaking and footage they shot in the mid-aughts to create a time-travel caper about their characters’ quest to play the ultimate gig.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

Giaconda Belli, a writer and former guerrilla who left the Sandinista party in 1990 and now lives in exile, said she knows firsthand that removing an authoritarian leader is possible.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026

So viewers were understandably skeptical that the corporation had lovingly funded an anti-corporate guerrilla comedy special only to immediately suppress its circulation online.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

Viet Minh fighters were supposed to have left the South, but thousands stayed behind and helped to form a new guerrilla force calling itself the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam.

From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin

Since the coup, some of Myanmar's myriad ethnic minority factions have banded with pro-democracy guerrillas to fight the armed forces.

From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026

The nation now openly mocks the bearded guerrillas, including Fidel Castro, and their generation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Petro tried unsuccessfully to negotiate peace with criminal groups, but experts say guerrillas used the talks to grow in strength.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

Like other former guerrillas, he said he had renounced violence.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

It could give the guerrillas and the Americans added clues and perhaps an advantage.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Related Words

• commando
• mercenary
• terrorist