militate
Americanverb (used without object)
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to have a substantial effect; weigh heavily.
His prison record militated against him.
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Obsolete.
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to be a soldier.
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to fight for a belief.
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verb
Commonly Confused
See mitigate.
Other Word Forms
- militation noun
Etymology
Origin of militate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin mīlitātus (past participle of mīlitāre “to serve as a soldier”), equivalent to mīlit- (stem of mīles ) “soldier” + -ātus verb suffix; -ate 1
Explanation
Your father's loss of his job may militate against the big family vacation your parents had been planning. To militate is to be a deciding factor for or against. The word militate descends from the same Latin word as military. Imagine armed soldiers at a check point. Their presence might militate against your plan of crossing the border, or it might militate for their bringing you in for questioning. When you are young, sometimes your age works for you, and sometimes it militates against you.
Vocabulary lists containing militate
Fighting Words: Belli and Milit
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam" (1967)
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bel and milit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What if U.S. domestic concerns militate in favor of amending the legal structures of those countries?
From Barron's • Nov. 19, 2025
"And it's ridiculous that he wants to call E. Jean a liar when the facts militate toward the truth, which is what she said happened."
From Salon • Jan. 17, 2023
Meyer noted that if he were a chief security officer of a company with ties to Ukraine, “I would militate rather strongly to unwind my exposure.”
From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2022
Ben Sulaymen has consulted with all the team bosses to seek their views on what went wrong in Abu Dhabi and what changes could be made to militate against a repeat.
From BBC • Jan. 27, 2022
So through a complicated, haphazard, and constantly readjusted web of economic, social, and moral incentives, modern society does its best to militate against crime.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
