paramilitary
Americanadjective
noun
-
paramilitaries
plural
adjective
-
denoting or relating to a group of personnel with military structure functioning either as a civil force or in support of military forces
-
denoting or relating to a force with military structure conducting armed operations against a ruling or occupying power
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of paramilitary
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."
Vocabulary lists containing paramilitary
Fighting Words: Belli and Milit
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bel and milit
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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.
See Examples For:
Like its paramilitary predecessor, the Wagner group, the Africa Corps is officially in the Sahel region to help tackle that violence.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
According to local media reports officials argue that this unfairly equates the recognised national military with a paramilitary force and restricts its ability to defend citizens against an insurgency.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 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
The next day, Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, an adviser to Vahidi, said the paramilitary force must be prepared to take operations into enemy territory.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
They looked more like an army of Robocops—black paramilitary outfits, helmets, automatic rifles.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
The government has firm control over police and paramilitaries, and the Indian army, unlike many of its peers in the developing world, has a record of remaining apolitical.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
On Thursday, a senior police officer said there was no evidence loyalist paramilitaries were co-ordinating the unrest.
From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026
"At this stage we have no evidence to say that the violence is being coordinated by loyalist paramilitaries," he said.
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
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.
