guerrilla
Syllables: guer·ril·laUK/ɡəˈɹɪlə//ɡəˈɹɪlə/
guerrilla noun: a soldier in a small independent group, fighting against the government or regular forces by surprise raids.
Noun
guerrilla (plural guerrillas)
- A soldier in a small independent group, fighting against the government or regular forces by surprise raids.
- The right-wing paramilitary's offensive against the Marxist guerrillas failed because they did not know the terrain well enough.
- From the start of its operations in Colombia, the company was on guard against the decadeslong civil strife in the country between left-wing guerrilla and right-wing paramilitary groups, witnesses have testified.2007 July 13, Kyle Whitmire, “Suit in U.S. Over Murders in Colombia”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2021
- Synonyms:
- guerrillero
- A non-official war carried out by small independent groups; a guerrilla war.
- A marketer who uses guerrilla marketing techniques.
- A maker of guerrilla television.
Adjective
guerrilla (comparative more guerrilla, superlative most guerrilla)
- Relating to, using, or typical of guerrilla warfare, or its principles of small independent or non-official perpetrators.
- Wherever Nicholson was most wanted, there he was sure to be found. What his life was at this time may be seen from a letter he wrote to his mother: 'I am leading a very guerrilla sort of life with seven hundred horse and foot raised among the people of the country. The chieftain who is in rebellion...1908, George Devereux Oswell, chapter VII, in Sketches of Rulers of India, volume I, page 127
- On the other hand, after the fall of Feng Ling Tu, the operations of Central Shansi, and Suiyuan, troops were more guerrilla than orthodox in nature.1963, Samuel B. Griffith (translator), Mao Zedong, The Red Book of Guerrilla Warfare, edited by Shawn Conners, published 2010, page 14, original 1937
- Relating to, using, or typical of guerrilla marketing.
- We took a very guerrilla approach to marketing Goin' Hollywood, in keeping with the irreverent tone of the game.1989, Michael Wiese, Film & video marketing, page 445
- "Mozilla's marketing has been very guerrilla. You're not seeing it spend millions of dollars on TV. Instead, it's a powerful ground swell.2005 February 28, “Firefox Continues To Chip Away At IE's Share”, in InformationWeek
- Using unconventional, non-traditional, non-mainstream and often subversive practices to achieve something.
- guerrilla marketing
- guerrilla tourism
guerrilla meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Pashto
guerrilla in Hindi
- guerrilla, rebel fighter
- छापामार chāpāmār
guerrilla in Tamil
- கரந்தடிப் போராளி
guerrilla in Malayalam
- irregular member of the resistance, freedom fighter, partisan
- ഗറില്ല, ഗെറില്ല, ഒളിപ്പോരുസംഘാഗം, ഒളിപ്പടയാളി, ഒളിപ്പോരുകാരൻ, ഒളിപ്പോരാളി
guerrilla in Pashto
- irregular soldier
- پارتيزان pārtizān
More languagesFewer languages
- guerrilla in Tagalog
- gerilyero, gerilya
- guerrilla in Arabic
- فِدائِيّ fidāʔiyy, فِدائِيَّة fidāʔiyya, حَرْب فِدائِيَّة ḥarb fidāʔiyya, حَرْب عِصَابَات ḥarb ʕiṣābāt
- guerrilla in Malay
- gerila
- guerrilla in Indonesian
- gerilyawan, gerilya
- guerrilla in Persian
- پارتیزان pârtizân, چریک čerik, جنگ استقلال طلبی jang-e esteqlâl talabi, جنگ چریکی jang-e čeriki
- guerrilla in Thai
- สงครามกองโจร
- guerrilla in Vietnamese
- du kích
- guerrilla in Myanmar
- ပြောက်ကျား praukkya:, ပြောက်ကျားစစ် praukkya:cac
Examples of guerrilla in a sentence
- What his life was at this time may be seen from a letter he wrote to his mother: 'I am leading a very guerrilla sort of life with seven hundred horse and foot raised among the people of the country.1908, George Devereux Oswell, chapter VII, in Sketches of Rulers of India, volume I, page 127:
- The Slovak uprising in the latter days was not guerrilla in character, which, incidentally, may have been one of the reasons for its failure.1976, Walter Laqueur, Guerrilla Warfare, page 205:
- The Boston demonstration, which will feature singing and guerrilla theatre, will begin at 12 noon in front of the Park Street Subway station.1976 April 3, “April 8 Set for 'Grand Jury Three' Protest March”, in Gay Community News, page 8:
- Jackass’s guerrilla, nonnarrative format2022, Marisol Cortez, “Ambivalent Anality: Revisiting the Queer Ecology of "the Jackass Moment"”, in Media+Environment:
Synonyms of guerrilla
Forms of guerrilla
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | guerrillas |
| alternative form (obsolete) | guerilla |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more guerrilla |
| superlative | most guerrilla |
Origin of guerrilla
Borrowed from Spanish guerrilla, diminutive of guerra (“war”), coined during the Peninsular War.
Words formed from guerrilla
Phrases with guerrilla
Questions about guerrilla
- What does guerrilla mean?
- Guerrilla means a soldier in a small independent group, fighting against the government or regular forces by surprise raids.
- What is guerrilla in Hindi?
- Guerrilla in Hindi is छापामार (chāpāmār). See Guerrilla meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use guerrilla in a sentence?
- What his life was at this time may be seen from a letter he wrote to his mother: 'I am leading a very guerrilla sort of life with seven hundred horse and foot raised among the people of the country.
- What part of speech is guerrilla?
- Guerrilla can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce guerrilla?
- Guerrilla is pronounced /ɡəˈɹɪlə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of guerrilla?
- The plural of guerrilla is guerrillas.
Words near guerrilla in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: guerrilla (page history and authors); छापामार (Hindi) (page history and authors); guerrilla (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); guerrilla (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-guerrilla.wav.
Cite this entry: “guerrilla.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guerrilla. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.