Definitions

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

  • adjective Of, relating to, or being a group of civilians organized in a military fashion, especially to operate in place of or assist regular army troops.
  • noun A member of a paramilitary force.

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

  • noun A group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion, but which do not represent the formal forces of a sovereign power.
  • noun colloquial A member of a paramilitary group.
  • adjective relating to a paramilitary

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

  • noun a group of civilians organized in a military fashion (especially to operate in place of or to assist regular army troops)
  • adjective of or relating to a group of civilians organized to function like or to assist a military unit

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

para- + military

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