militant
/ˈmɪlɪtənt/
militant adjective: fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike.
Adjective
militant (comparative more militant, superlative most militant)
- Fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike.
- The upper tiers of the foreign ministry were quick to embrace a militant policy.2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 394
- Senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian militant network blamed for the deadly Bali bombings, have announced they are disbanding the group, according to a report by a Jakarta-based think tank on Thursday.2024 July 5, Reuters, “Militant group blamed for 2002 Bali bombings to be disbanded, say senior leaders”, in CNN, archived from the original on 07 Aug 2024
- Aggressively supporting of an idea, group, political or social cause, etc.; adamant, combative.
- The physiological state is not itself militant against erotic expression.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 6
Noun
militant (plural militants)
- A soldier, a combatant.
- An entrenched or aggressive adherent to a particular cause, now especially a member of a particular ideological faction.
- [Jim Owles] lamented the declining influence of militant organizations and tactics, stating that militants "help keep the rest of us honest," and prevent moderates from selling out.1976 December 11, Thom Willenbecher, quoting Jean O'Leary, “Women's Caucus Quits Gay Academic Union”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 1
- Described by witnesses as a keen cricketer and pubgoer until contacts with Islamic militants radicalized him on a trip to Pakistan, he was ordered to serve at least 14 years for the plot, and for supplying militants in Afghanistan with money and equipment.2008 February 19, John F. Burns, “Britain: Life Sentence in Beheading Plot”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022
- Someone who supports the Trotskyist political view expressed in the newspaper Militant.
militant meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
militant in Hindi
- militant; quarrelsome
- पठान paṭhān
militant in Tamil
- போராளி, போர்க்குணமுள்ள
militant in Urdu
- militant; quarrelsome
- پٹھان paṭhān
militant in Bengali
- সংগ্রামী, লড়াকু, যুদ্ধংদেহী, জঙ্গি
More languagesFewer languages
- militant in Malayalam
- ആക്രമണസ്വഭാവമുള്ള, ആക്രമാസക്തനായ, ആക്രമണശീലമുള്ള, രണോത്സുകമായ
- militant in Kannada
- ಉಗ್ರಗಾಮಿ, ಆಕ್ರಮಣಕಾರಿ, ರಾಜಕೀಯ ತೀವ್ರವಾದಿ, ಯುದ್ಧಪ್ರಿಯ
- militant in Punjabi
- ਲੜਾਕਾ laṛākā, ਯੋਧਾ yodhā, ਜੋਧਾ jodhā, ਖਾੜਕੂ khāṛkū
- militant in Odia
- ପଠାଣ paṭhāṇa
- militant in Nepali
- उग्रवादी
- militant in Arabic
- مُقَاتِل muqātil, مُحَارِب muḥārib, مُنَاضِل munāḍil, مُكَافِح mukāfiḥ
- militant in Malay
- militan
Examples of militant in a sentence
- Internecine strife in Gaza claimed its most senior victim yesterday when militants assassinated one of the most hated security chiefs there.
- Better to have honest nescience than to have militant ignorance.
- He's a poster child for militant vegetarianism.
Synonyms of militant
Forms of militant
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more militant |
| superlative | most militant |
| Noun | |
| plural | militants |
Origin of militant
From Middle French militant, from Latin mīlitāns, present participle of mīlitāre (“to serve as a soldier”).
Words formed from militant
Phrases with militant
Questions about militant
- What does militant mean?
- Militant means fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike.
- What is militant in Hindi?
- Militant in Hindi is पठान (paṭhān). See Militant meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is militant?
- Militant can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce militant?
- Militant is pronounced /ˈmɪlɪtənt/.
Words near militant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: militant (page history and authors); पठान (Hindi) (page history and authors); militant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); پٹھان (Urdu) (page history and authors); militant (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); militant (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); militant (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ପଠାଣ (Odia) (page history and authors); militant (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-militant.wav.
Cite this entry: “militant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/militant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.