militia

[mi-lish-uh]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR militia ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a body of citizens enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but serving full time only in emergencies.

a body of citizen soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.

all able-bodied males considered by law eligible for military service.

a body of citizens organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal government.

Origin of militia

1580–90; < Latin mīlitia soldiery, equivalent to mīlit- (stem of mīles) soldier + -ia -ia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for militia

commandos, military, force

Examples from the Web for militia

Contemporary Examples of militia

Spending millions on speech is more like raising your own militia.
Undo Citizens United? We’d Only Scratch the Surface
Jedediah Purdy
November 12, 2014
Islamist brigades including Suqur al-Sham, a 9,000-strong militia, are openly breaking with Western-favored rebel factions.
Spies Warned White House: Don’t Hit Al Qaeda in Syria
Shane Harris, Jamie Dettmer
November 7, 2014
From the militia perspective, the Shia factions in Iraq break down as follows.
The New Iraq War Could Be Won or Lost This Month by Baghdad Politics
Bartle Bull
October 3, 2014
But there is a middle way from clean-cut hunkdom to looking like a militia leader who might boil a hitchhiker alive.
Leo, the Beard Has to Go: When a Man’s Facial Hair Reaches Crisis Point
Tim Teeman
September 22, 2014
“They are army, not militia,” the sheik repeated throughout our conversation.
The Brewing Battle for Baghdad
Jacob Siegel
August 3, 2014

Historical Examples of militia

I beg you will encourage the militia and engage them to continue their exertions.
A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion
William Dobein James
We now marched through a settled country, with some militia for our guards.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
From north and east and west the militia of the counties was on its march against us.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
I thought ye might belong to Portman's yellow regiment of militia.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
They censured the mayor for his weakness and called for the militia.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole

British Dictionary definitions for militia

militia

noun

a body of citizen (as opposed to professional) soldiers

an organization containing men enlisted for service in emergency only

Word Origin for militia

C16: from Latin: soldiery, from mīles soldier

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

Word Origin and History for militia

1580s, "system of military discipline," from Latin militia "military service, warfare," from miles "soldier" (see military). Sense of "citizen army" (as distinct from professional soldiers) is first recorded 1690s, perhaps from a sense in French cognate milice. In U.S. history, "the whole body of men declared by law amenable to military service, without enlistment, whether armed and drilled or not" (1777).