Adjacent Words

Militant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MIL'ITANT, a. [L. militans, milito, to fight.]
1. Fighting; combating; serving as a soldier.
2. The church militant, is the christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies; thus distinguished from the church triumphant, or in heaven.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: disposed to warfare or hard-line policies; "militant nations"; "hawkish congressman"; "warlike policies" [syn: militant, hawkish, warlike]
2: showing a fighting disposition; "highly competitive sales representative"; "militant in fighting for better wages for workers"; "his self-assertive and ubiquitous energy" [syn: competitive, militant]
3: engaged in war; "belligerent (or warring) nations" [syn: belligerent, militant, war-ridden, warring] n
1: a militant reformer [syn: militant, activist]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 15th century 1. engaged in warfare or combat ; fighting 2. aggressively active (as in a cause) ; combative <militant conservationists> <a militant attitude> Synonyms: see aggressive • militant noun • militantly adverb • militantness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & n. --adj. 1 combative; aggressively active esp. in support of a (usu. political) cause. 2 engaged in warfare. --n. a militant person, esp. a political activist. Derivatives: militancy n. militantly adv. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L (as MILITATE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Militant Mil"i*tant, a. [L. militans, -antis, p. pr. of militare to be soldier: cf. F. militant. See Militate.] Engaged in warfare; fighting; combating; serving as a soldier. -- Mil"i*tant*ly, adv. At which command the powers militant . . . Moved on in silence. --Milton. Church militant, the Christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies, and is thus distinguished from the church triumphant, in heaven.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(militants) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. You use militant to describe people who believe in something very strongly and are active in trying to bring about political or social change, often in extreme ways that other people find unacceptable. Militant mineworkers in the Ukraine have voted for a one-day stoppage next month. ADJ • Militant is also a noun. The militants might still find some new excuse to call a strike. N-COUNT: usu pl • militancy ...the rise of trade union militancy. • militantly Their army is militantly nationalist. ADV: usu ADV adj

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Fighting, contending, combating.

Moby Thesaurus

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