Irish Republican Army

American  

noun

1. an underground Irish nationalist organization founded to work for Irish independence from Great Britain: declared illegal by the Irish government in 1936, but continues activity aimed at the unification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. IRA, I.R.A.

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Irish Republican Army British  

noun

1.  IRA.  a militant organization of Irish nationalists founded with the aim of striving for a united independent Ireland by means of guerrilla warfare

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Irish Republican Army Cultural  

1. A secret organization in Ireland that originally fought for Irish independence from Britain. After the division of Ireland in the early twentieth century into Northern Ireland, which remained united with Britain, and the Irish Free State, now called the Republic of Ireland, the IRA took as its goal the uniting of the entire island under the Republic. The IRA continues to pursue this goal; membership, however, is illegal in the Republic, and the IRA's Provisional Wing has practiced terrorism. (See Sinn Fein.)

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Example Sentences

Dolours, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army militant, is visibly nervous.

From Salon

Rose Dugdale, 82, the English heiress who became an Irish Republican Army militant, died Monday at a nursing facility in Dublin.

From Seattle Times

In 1989 she declared her support for the Irish Republican Army, a statement she retracted a year later.

From Seattle Times

The gates were erected in 1989 in response to threats from Irish Republican Army militants.

From Washington Times

That meant Mr. Seitz dealt with the fallout from Mr. Clinton’s decision to issue a visa to Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, a political party with ties to the underground Irish Republican Army.

From New York Times