mercenary

[ mur-suh-ner-ee ]
/ ˈmɜr səˌnɛr i /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR mercenary ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.
hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc.

noun, plural mer·ce·nar·ies.

a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.
any hireling.

QUIZZES

CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH THESE WORDS FROM "LITTLE WOMEN"

"Little Women" may be a classic, but that doesn't mean we all know the meanings of the vocab words from the book. Can you define these words correctly and make Jo proud?
Question 1 of 10
earnest
full seriousness, as of intention or purpose.
a feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish.
urgent character; imperativeness; insistence; importunateness.
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Origin of mercenary

1350–1400; Middle English mercenarie < Latin mercēnnārius working for pay, hired worker, mercenary, perhaps, representing earlier *mercēd(i)nārius, equivalent to *mercēdin-, stem of *mercēdō, a by-form of mercēs, stem mercēd- payment, wage (akin to merx goods; cf. merchant) + -ārius -ary

OTHER WORDS FROM mercenary

Words nearby mercenary

mercator projection, mercator sailing, mercator track, merced, mercedes, mercenary, mercer, mercer island, mercerize, mercery, merch
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to mercenary

selfish, unscrupulous, acquisitive, warrior, grasping, hireling, slave, legionnaire, avaricious, corrupt, covetous, miserly, sordid, stingy, unethical, unprincipled, venal, grabby, money-grubbing, merc

Example sentences from the Web for mercenary

British Dictionary definitions for mercenary

mercenary
/ (ˈmɜːsɪnərɪ, -sɪnrɪ) /

adjective

influenced by greed or desire for gain
of or relating to a mercenary or mercenaries

noun plural -naries

a man hired to fight for a foreign army, etc
rare any person who works solely for pay

Derived forms of mercenary

mercenarily, adverbmercenariness, noun

Word Origin for mercenary

C16: from Latin mercēnārius, from mercēs wages
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012