mercenary

1 of 2

noun

mer·​ce·​nary ˈmər-sə-ˌner-ē 

-ne-rē

plural mercenaries

: one that serves merely for wages

especially : a soldier hired into foreign service

… mercenaries who guaranteed the success of the rebellion …

—B. F. Reilly

mercenary

2 of 2

adjective

1

: serving merely for pay or sordid advantage : venal

also : greedy

… they feel that they have been unfairly portrayed as somehow dishonest or mercenary in a highly competitive business with paper-thin profit margins.

—Randy Kennedy

2

: hired for service in the army of a foreign country

mercenarily

ˌmər-sə-ˈner-ə-lē 

-ˈne-rə-

adverb

mercenariness

ˈmər-sə-ˌner-ē-nəs 

-ˌne-rē-

noun

Synonyms of mercenary

Adjective

• greedy
• eager
• avaricious
• acquisitive

Examples of mercenary in a Sentence

Noun

an army of foreign mercenaries

Adjective

His motives in choosing a career were purely mercenary.

they were a mercenary couple, who defined themselves not by what they were but by what they owned

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

An adaptation of the novel Monkey in the Middle, this reunites Sonny Corleone and Tom Hagen as Duvall butts heads with James Caan as a pair of mercenaries in San Francisco who end up on either side of a proxy war over a foreign dignitary. —Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2026

Nor does Hemsworth’s character drop into some exotic locale and attempt to pull off a black-ops mission alongside a team of fellow mercenaries. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2026

Adjective

Six British men were later convicted of national security and arson offenses; ringleader Dylan Earl, 21, had been recruited by the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner and was paid about $12,000 for the attack. —The Week Us, TheWeek, 17 Feb. 2026

Alekseyev, 64, played a prominent role during the mutiny by mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the summer of 2023. —Yuliya Talmazan, NBC news, 9 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Adjective

Middle English, from Latin mercenarius, irregular from merced-, merces wages — more at mercy

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1532, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for mercenary

• accessary
• adversary
• ancillary
• arbitrary
• aviary
• axillary
• beriberi
• breviary
• budgetary
• capillary
• catenary
• cautionary

Kids Definition

mercenary

1 of 2 noun

mer·​ce·​nary ˈmərs-ᵊn-ˌer-ē 

plural mercenaries

: one that serves only for wages

especially : a soldier hired by a foreign country to fight in its army

mercenary

2 of 2 adjective

1

: serving only for the pay or reward

mercenary armies

mercenary soldier

2

: greedy for money

mercenary business owners