mercenary

American  

[mur-suh-ner-ee] / ˈmɜr səˌnɛr i /

adjective

1. working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.

   Synonyms:

   covetous, avaricious, acquisitive, grasping

   Antonyms:

   unselfish, idealistic, altruistic

2. hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc.

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noun

mercenaries plural

1. a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.

2. any hireling.

mercenary British  

/ ˈmɜːsɪnərɪ, -sɪnrɪ /

adjective

1. influenced by greed or desire for gain

2. of or relating to a mercenary or mercenaries

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noun

1. a man hired to fight for a foreign army, etc

2. rare any person who works solely for pay

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mercenariness
  noun
• unmercenariness
  noun
• nonmercenary
  adjective
• unmercenary
  adjective
• mercenarily
  adverb
• unmercenarily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• mercenaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mercenary

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mercenarie, from Latin mercēnnārius “working for pay, hired worker, mercenary,” perhaps from earlier mercēd(i)nārius (unrecorded), from mercēdin- (unrecorded), variant stem of mercēs “payment, wage” (akin to merx “goods”; cf. merchant) + -ārius -ary

Explanation

You might not want to call a mercenary a "hireling" to his face, but a mercenary is, after all, a soldier who gets paid to fight where needed, sometimes taking a heroic stand and other times just wanting payment for fighting. The word mercenary comes from the Latin mercēnārius, "hireling," which defines someone who will do anything in exchange for money. In history, a mercenary was often a fighter who followed the next paycheck, but in recent decades it's also been used for fighters who pursue a good cause in areas where soldiers are in short supply. A synonym for mercenary is "soldier of fortune," and this phrase sometimes glorifies the mercenary, turning the meaning of "fortune" from "cash" to "luck in battle."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mercenary mercenaries

In a 2024 exposé on Bowlero’s rise, Amos Barshad introduced a now-familiar category of villain — the private-equity vulture — as more than the average mercenary buying up distressed properties and selling off their parts.

From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026

“I’d love to do the hometown team, but I’m a mercenary whistler,” Ullman said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026

Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, which had been fighting with Malian forces against jihadists since 2021, ended its involvement in June 2025.

From Barron's ● Apr. 25, 2026

Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government is also illegal in South Africa, unless the government authorises it.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

Chronicler was looking the mercenary over, eyeing the man’s armor, the empty quiver of arrows, his fine blue linen shirt.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

There’s the coalition warfare, the mercenaries and the overseas adventurism.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

It was but a week after its appearance that Washington and his men crossed the icy Delaware River by night and surprised Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, N.J.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

In recent years, a United Nations peacekeeping mission, Rwandan troops and Russian mercenaries from the notorious Wagner group have helped to improve the Central African Republic's security situation.

From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026

Players can amass huge virtual fortunes by mining raw materials or fighting as mercenaries, but they aren't allowed to convert in-game wealth back into real-world cash.

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026

If one looks for the first signs of the downfall of the Roman Empire it will be found to have begun with the hiring of the Goths as mercenaries.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli

Related Words

• acquisitive
• selfish
• unscrupulous