Adjacent Words

Mercenary definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MER'CENARY, a. [L. mercenarius, from merces, reward, wages, mercor, to guy.]
1. Venal; that may be hired; actuated by the hope of reward; moved by the love of money; as a mercenary prince or judge.
2. Hired; purchased by money; as mercenary services; mercenary soldiers.
3. Sold for money; as mercenary blood.
4. Greedy of gain; mean; selfish; as a mercenary disposition.
5. Contracted from motives of gain; as a mercenary marriage.
MER'CENARY, n. One who is hired; a soldier that is hired into foreign service; a hireling.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: marked by materialism [syn: materialistic, mercenary, worldly-minded]
2: serving for wages in a foreign army; "mercenary killers" [syn: mercenary, free-lance, freelance]
3: profit oriented; "a commercial book"; "preached a mercantile and militant patriotism"- John Buchan; "a mercenary enterprise"; "a moneymaking business" [syn: mercantile, mercenary, moneymaking] n
1: a person hired to fight for another country than their own [syn: mercenary, soldier of fortune]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural -naries) Etymology: Middle English, from Latin mercenarius, irregular from merced-, merces wages — more at mercy Date: 14th century one that serves merely for wages; especially a soldier hired into foreign service II. adjective Date: 1532 1. serving merely for pay or sordid advantage ; venal; also greedy 2. hired for service in the army of a foreign country • mercenarily adverb • mercenariness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. primarily concerned with money or other reward (mercenary motives). --n. (pl. -ies) a hired soldier in foreign service. Derivatives: mercenariness n. Etymology: ME f. L mercenarius f. merces -edis reward

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mercenary Mer"ce*na*ry, a. [OE. mercenarie, F. mercenaire, fr. L. mercenarius, fr. merces wages, reward. See Mercy.] 1. Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers. 2. Hence: Moved by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish. --Shak. For God forbid I should my papers blot With mercenary lines, with servile pen. --Daniel. Syn: See Venal.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mercenary Mer"ce*na*ry, n.; pl. Mercenaries. One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service. --Milman.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mercenaries) 1. A mercenary is a soldier who is paid to fight by a country or group that they do not belong to. N-COUNT 2. If you describe someone as mercenary, you are criticizing them because you think that they are only interested in the money that they can get from a particular person or situation. ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Hired, purchased, paid, hireling, venal. 2. Sordid, avaricious, covetous, penurious, parsimonious, stingy, miserly, niggardly, mean, selfish, close. 3. Selfish, sordid. II. n. Hireling.

Moby Thesaurus

a hog for, acquisitive, adventurer, all-devouring, assistant, avaricious, avid, bottomless, bought, bribable, chartered, condottiere, corrupt, corruptible, coveting, covetous, devouring, drudge, employed, employee, esurient, free lance, girl Friday, gluttonous, gobbling, grabby, grasping, greedy, grub, grubber, gun, gunman, hack, hired, hired gun, hired hand, hired killer, hired man, hireling, hoggish, insatiable, insatiate, leased, let, limitless, man Friday, miserly, money-hungry, money-mad, myrmidon, omnivorous, on the take, overgreedy, paid, pensioner, piggish, predatory, professional killer, purchasable, quenchless, rapacious, ravening, ravenous, rented, right-hand man, slakeless, slavey, soldier of fortune, sordid, subleased, sublet, swinish, unappeasable, unappeased, unethical, unprincipled, unquenchable, unsated, unsatisfied, unscrupulous, unslakeable, unslaked, venal, voracious, worker