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

Officers also dismantled the protesters' stage and makeshift tents at Jantar Mantar, but demonstrators have refused to leave, maintaining a round-the-clock sit-in under heavy police and paramilitary deployment.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

Around the time the protesters were meeting Nadda, police and paramilitary forces moved in to clear Jantar Mantar.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Wednesday’s funeral procession was organized by the Iraqi government and a coalition of pro-Iranian paramilitary groups known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

UN rights chief Volker Turk issues a "red alert" Friday on the unfolding "catastrophe" in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid, where the United Nations fears an imminent paramilitary assault.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Whenever possible, the teenagers also held the prestigious Hitler Youth Achievement Medal, earned for outstanding performance during their paramilitary training days.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Sudan remains locked in a three‑year power struggle between the regular army and the RSF paramilitaries.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Her emergency contact Alex Plitsas, a CNN national security analyst, told CBS that Kittleson had been warned by the US government about a specific threat to her from Iran-backed paramilitaries.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

Iraq still faces many challenges, not least sectarianism, paramilitaries and Iranian meddling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

The fall of El-Fasher gave paramilitaries control over all five state capitals in Darfur, raising fears that Sudan would effectively be partitioned along an east-west axis.

From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2025

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

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers