guerrilla

guer·ril·la | \ gə-ˈri-lə

, ge-, g(y)i- \

variants: or guerilla

Definition of guerrilla

(Entry 1 of 2)

: a person who engages in irregular warfare especially as a member of an independent unit carrying out harassment and sabotage (see sabotage sense 2) Guerrillas controlled half the country.

guerrilla

adjective

Definition of guerrilla (Entry 2 of 2)

: of, relating to, or suggestive of guerrillas especially in being aggressive, radical, or unconventional guerrilla warfare

Examples of guerrilla in a Sentence

Noun The guerrillas controlled half the country.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The battle broke out on Easter Sunday 1966, when Viet Cong guerrillas pinned down 180 soldiers 35 miles east of Saigon. — Sig Christenson, ExpressNews.com, "San Antonio veteran’s story helped Hollywood recognize a hero," 13 Jan. 2020 In the early eighties, the Guatemalan Army believed—often wrongly—that Mayans were susceptible to guerrilla ideology. — Rachel Nolan, The New Yorker, "A Translation Crisis at the Border," 30 Dec. 2019 The former Zimbabwean leader was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power when the African country shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise. — Bernard Mcghee, Twin Cities, "Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2019," 29 Dec. 2019 In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims were killed, plus four attackers who were slain by police and security personnel. — BostonGlobe.com, "You're using a browser set to private or incognito mode.," 27 Dec. 2019 Promoting the lineup with a guerrilla poster campaign and a dynamic social media strategy paid off. — Nandi Howard, Essence, "Behind the Seams With Victor Glemaud," 16 Dec. 2019 The Seminoles fought using guerrilla tactics, raiding and then disappearing back into the Everglades, territory unfamiliar to the invading soldiers. — Dan Sweeney, sun-sentinel.com, "What’s the story behind Military Trail and its name? | You asked, we answer," 21 Aug. 2019 The former Zimbabwean leader was an ex-guerrilla chief who took power when the African country shook off white minority rule and presided for decades while economic turmoil and human rights violations eroded its early promise. — Bernard Mcghee, The Denver Post, "Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2019," 16 Dec. 2019 This said, the world is at risk of unrecoverable changes, and the generation that will be inheriting this is fighting a guerrilla war for environmental continuity. — David Meyer, Fortune, "OK Boomer…," 27 Nov. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective That was the year that social media really started to take off, which gave restaurants and bars this megaphone to kind of guerrilla market on their own. — BostonGlobe.com, "A conversation with Kevin Alexander, author of ‘Burn the Ice: The American Culinary Revolution and its End’ - The Boston Globe," 11 Sep. 2019 Paolo Luers, a journalist and former guerrilla press officer who became part of Mijango’s team, told me. — Daniel Castro, Harper's magazine, "The Truce," 10 June 2019 Maybe a little too guerrilla style for some of the crews. — Gary Thompson, Philly.com, "Tommy Chong: 'The whole reason for making marijuana illegal was to prosecute black and brown people'," 5 Apr. 2018 Her interviews were guerrilla achievements and global events. — Dwight Garner, New York Times, "The Life of Oriana Fallaci, Guerrilla Journalist," 16 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'guerrilla.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.