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paramilitary.

A group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion, but which do not represent the formal forces of a sovereign power.

12 characters6 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌpæɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˌpæɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɛɹi/US/ˌpɛɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɛɹi//ˌpaɾəˈmɪlɪˌtɾe/Scotland
  1. A group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion, but which do not represent the formal forces of a sovereign power.

  2. A member of a paramilitary group.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Hellenic *pərai Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ́ (părắ) Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ- (pără-)der. English para- English military English paramilitary From para- + military.

adj/ˌpæɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɹi/Received-Pronunciation/ˌpæɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɛɹi/US/ˌpɛɹəˈmɪlɪˌtɛɹi//ˌpaɾəˈmɪlɪˌtɾe/Scotland
  1. Relating to a paramilitary.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *preh₂- Proto-Hellenic *pərai Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ́ (părắ) Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ- (pără-)der. English para- English military English paramilitary From para- + military.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.