demilitarize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to deprive of military character; free from militarism.
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to place under civil instead of military control.
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to forbid military use of (a border zone).
verb
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to remove any military presence or function in (an area)
demilitarized zone
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to free of military character, purpose, etc
11 regiments were demilitarized
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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demilitarizesimple
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demilitarizessimple
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have demilitarizedperfect
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has demilitarizedperfect
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am demilitarizingprogressive
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are demilitarizingprogressive
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is demilitarizingprogressive
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have been demilitarizingperfect progressive
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has been demilitarizingperfect progressive
Past
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demilitarizedsimple
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had demilitarizedperfect
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was demilitarizingprogressive
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were demilitarizingprogressive
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had been demilitarizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of demilitarize
First recorded in 1880–85; de- + militarize
Explanation
To demilitarize is to remove all armed forces from an area. When a country brings its troops home at the end of a war, they demilitarize the region. When a government removes its military forces, it demilitarizes the area those troops once occupied. This can happen because a conflict has ended, or for political or financial reasons. Removing military-grade weapons is also known as demilitarizing. If you retrofitted an old Army tank to be a food truck, you'd need to demilitarize it first. Demilitarize is made up of the prefix de-, or "not," and militarize, from the Latin militaris, "warlike."
Vocabulary lists containing demilitarize
Fighting Words: Belli and Milit
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bel and milit
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Fallen Angels
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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:
Morgenthau’s plan to demilitarize and deindustrialize Germany was seized upon by the failing Nazi regime as a propaganda tool, and the Truman administration ultimately rejected it.
From Salon ● Mar. 25, 2026
Lebanese officials say they are on pace to demilitarize southern Lebanon as part of the agreement that halted hostility between Israel and Hezbollah in late 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
It’s what Camden, N.J., did when it famously dissolved its police force and started over to both reform it and demilitarize it.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 13, 2023
The question is, how can antagonistic nations demilitarize safely, without raising the risk of preemptive attacks?
From Scientific American ● Sep. 28, 2022
Ukraine's top priority was to demilitarize the plant and the surrounding area, which has seen increased shelling in recent weeks, to avoid a nuclear accident, he said.
From Reuters ● Sep. 1, 2022
Why did you set the story in the demilitarized zone?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
That would likely resemble a previous 1974 nonaggression pact that established a demilitarized buffer zone between the two countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025
Now, they see Israeli forces routinely moving around their own village, parts of which jut into the demilitarized zone.
From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2024
Vance zipped in afterward with a completely made-up plan about a "demilitarized zone" and a "guarantee of neutrality."
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2024
In 1936, Hitler violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by sending troops into the demilitarized German Rhineland.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
For all the dirt thrown at it, the core idea of demilitarizing the response to many 911 calls has tremendous merit.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2023
He said they should always be "persevering in good even when evil is done to us, breaking the spiral of vengeance, disarming violence, demilitarizing the heart".
From Reuters ● Nov. 5, 2022
Mr. Grossi said he planned to contact both sides soon to propose concrete steps to begin demilitarizing the area.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2022
When asked by a reporter if there was any hope of demilitarizing the plant, Grossi said it was a matter of “political will” in the countries involved in the conflict, “in particular, the Russian Federation.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 31, 2022
With Russia giving up its territorial claims in exchange for assurances about demilitarizing the long border between the two countries, their leaders signed a Treaty of Friendship and Alliance in February 1950.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2022
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.
