Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Fighting or warring.
  • adjective Having a combative character; aggressive, especially in the service of a cause.
  • noun A fighting, warring, or aggressive person or party.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Fighting; warring; engaged in warfare; pertaining to warfare or conflict.
  • Having a combative character or tendency; warlike.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Engaged in warfare; fighting; combating; serving as a soldier.
  • adjective the Christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies, and is thus distinguished from the church triumphant, in heaven.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective aggressive or combative
  • adjective fighting or warlike; belligerent
  • adjective Active in an aggressive way in support of a political or social cause (often associated with extreme left-wing politics).
  • noun An aggressive or fighting person.
  • noun One who serves as a soldier.
  • noun One who supports a Trotskyite political view or engages in aggressive left-wing politics.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective disposed to warfare or hard-line policies
  • adjective engaged in war
  • noun a militant reformer
  • adjective showing a fighting disposition

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mīlitāns, mīlitant-, present participle of mīlitāre, to serve as a soldier; see militate.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Late Latin militare ("to serve as a soldier")

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Examples

  • Militant opponents of the pullout have threatened to block roads this week and to bring Israel to a standstill when the army closes off the Gaza settlements in preparation for the evacuation. week before, Greenberg used the term militant to describe a Palestinian who ambushed and killed an Israeli motorist.

    CAMERA Snapshots 2009

  • It defines the term militant to mean, 'a person or group willing to use force or strong pressure to achieve her aims '.

    AllAfrica News: Latest 2009

  • It defines the term militant to mean, 'a person or group willing to use force or strong pressure to achieve her aims '.

    AllAfrica News: Latest 2009

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country is fully entitled to stop what he called "efforts to smuggle" weapons into Hamas-controlled Gaza - which he called the militant Palestinian group's "terror enclave."

    Irish Ship Drops Out of Gaza Flotilla; Organizers Vow to Sail 2011

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country is fully entitled to stop what he called "efforts to smuggle" weapons into Hamas-controlled Gaza - which he called the militant Palestinian group's "terror enclave."

    Irish Ship Drops Out of Gaza Flotilla; Organizers Vow to Sail 2011

  • Lady Warsi is to warn of what she calls the "militant secularisation" of society and propose Christianity is given a central role in public life when she leads a high-level government delegation on an official visit to the pope.

    'Militant secularisation' taking hold of British society, says Lady Warsi 2012

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country is fully entitled to stop what he called "efforts to smuggle" weapons into Hamas-controlled Gaza - which he called the militant Palestinian group's "terror enclave."

    Irish Ship Drops Out of Gaza Flotilla; Organizers Vow to Sail 2011

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his country is fully entitled to stop what he called "efforts to smuggle" weapons into Hamas-controlled Gaza - which he called the militant Palestinian group's "terror enclave."

    Irish Ship Drops Out of Gaza Flotilla; Organizers Vow to Sail 2011

  • Now, the Pakistan air force is saying they were involved in an air strike on what they call a militant training camp.

    CNN Transcript Oct 9, 2007 2007

  • The IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, saying they were targeting what they called a militant -- a Hezbollah militant's home in this refugee camp.

    CNN Transcript Aug 8, 2006 2006

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