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• Special Forces
  Special Forces

  plural noun

  U.S. Army personnel trained to organize, instruct, supply, and supervise local forces engaged in guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency operations, and to themselves conduct unconventional warfare.
• special forces
  special forces

  plural noun

  élite, highly trained military forces, specially selected to work on difficult missions

Special Forces

American  

plural noun

1. U.S. Army personnel trained to organize, instruct, supply, and supervise local forces engaged in guerrilla warfare and counterinsurgency operations, and to themselves conduct unconventional warfare.

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special forces British  

plural noun

1. élite, highly trained military forces, specially selected to work on difficult missions

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Example Sentences

Special Forces made use of this area in Iraq as part of operations against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 2003.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026

Army Special Forces, made a series of bets on the Polymarket prediction market using his knowledge of what was called Operation Absolute Resolve, according to an indictment made by federal authorities.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026

Even though it was a covert Special Forces operation, Panetta said, he personally briefed key congressional leaders before Bin Laden’s killing took place.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2026

Special Forces as they learned how to operate in the extreme cold.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

Many of the isolated, heavily defended camps were on hilltops in remote locations near Vietnam’s western border with Cambodia and Laos where Special Forces could keep track of enemy movement.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge