paramilitary

American  

[par-uh-mil-i-ter-ee] / ˌpær əˈmɪl ɪˌtɛr i /

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to an organization operating as, in place of, or as a supplement to a regular military force.

   a paramilitary police unit.

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noun

• paramilitaries
  plural

1. Also paramilitarist a person employed in such a force.

paramilitary British  

/ ˌpærəˈmɪlɪtərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. denoting or relating to a group of personnel with military structure functioning either as a civil force or in support of military forces

2. denoting or relating to a force with military structure conducting armed operations against a ruling or occupying power

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noun

1. 1. a paramilitary force

   2. a member of such a force

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paramilitaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paramilitary

First recorded in 1930–35; para- ¹ + military

Explanation

A group that's described as being paramilitary resembles an organized army. During the American Revolutionary War, the minutemen were a paramilitary group that fought in the earliest battles. When civilians organize themselves (or are organized) into a group that appears to be military, or that assists actual military troops, that's a paramilitary organization. You can also call it, simply, a paramilitary. The early twentieth century word combines the prefix para-, "near" or "resembling," and military, from its Latin root militaris, "of soldiers or war."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paramilitary paramilitaries

In all, 75 troops from the army and some 18 paramilitary personnel were involved in the rescue, army spokesman Brig.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Life returned to normal in Niger's capital, Niamey, on Sunday, after the military regime and its Russian paramilitary partners put down a mutiny by soldiers.

From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026

Euphemistically known as “mobile lounges,” these hulking, 40-ton machines from the 1960s and ’70s look and feel like paramilitary vehicles trundling through a desert dystopia.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

Young people draped in Indian flags queued for food, painted placards and posed for photographs, while rows of police and paramilitary personnel sealed every road to parliament around them.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

They looked more like an army of Robocops—black paramilitary outfits, helmets, automatic rifles.

From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds

It also had “what was in effect a formidable army of 40,000 paramilitaries, and it had a foreign policy. It was independent enough to launch a war.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

Chad's decision to leave the ICC after 20 years comes amid allegations by national and international organisations of Ndjamena's suspected involvement in the war in neighbouring Sudan between the army and paramilitaries.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

On Thursday, a senior police officer said there was no evidence loyalist paramilitaries were co-ordinating the unrest.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

The senator led the investigation into former president Uribe's ties with paramilitaries before it went to court, where Uribe became the first Colombian leader to be convicted of a crime last year.

From Barron's ● May 25, 2026

Her husband was an Arab, and there were Israeli paramilitaries on the ground in the city.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers