militarism

noun mil·i·ta·rism \ ˈmi-lə-tə-ˌri-zəm \

|Updated on: 9 Jun 2018

Examples: militarism in a Sentence

1 a : predominance of the military class or its ideals

b : exaltation of military virtues and ideals

2 : a policy of aggressive military preparedness

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militarist

play \-rist\ noun or adjective

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militaristic

play \ˌmi-lə-tə-ˈris-tik\ adjective

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militaristically

play \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

See militarism defined for English-language learners

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Examples of militarism in a Sentence

The administration has been criticized for the militarism of its foreign policy.

Recent Examples of militarism from the Web

By December, King announced plans for the Poor People’s Campaign, which would launch the following spring by bringing caravans of people to Washington, D.C. to protest poverty, militarism, and materialism.

— livia gershon, Longreads, "The Prosperity Plea," 30 May 2018
Though the focus of their group is to end U.S. wars and militarism, CODEPINK partners with coalitions on other issues, like advising Parkland students in their fight against the NRA and supporting activists resisting attempts to end DACA.

— aimeé lutkin, Glamour, "Mother's Day Actually Has a Deep History of Activism," 12 May 2018
Football is ripe for satire, of course, with its undisguised militarism, its unfamiliarity with the language of irony, its Lombardi-esque moral elevation of stakes that are, in the end, imaginary.

— elif batuman, The New Yorker, "A Public Defender’s Polyphonic Novel of Football and Social Justice," 30 Apr. 2018
But today, the logic of militarism too often goes unquestioned.

— izumi nakamitsu, Time, "Global Military Spending Has Doubled but the World Is No Safer," 25 Apr. 2018
The forces of colonialism, militarism, and capitalism are challenges that impact all of us in the Pacific.

— NBC News, "#RedefineAtoZ: Craig Santos Perez Has a Story to Tell Through Art, Poetry," 16 Apr. 2018
King had concluded that militarism, like poverty, was stalling the U.S. from living up to its ideals.

— russell contreras, Fox News, "MLK tackled many issues in his lifetime. Where are we now?," 1 Apr. 2018
In Thailand, the government has responded to a long-running Malay Muslim insurgency in its southern provinces by fostering a Buddhist militarism, encouraging monks in local temples to ally with the armed forces.

— amar diwakar, The New Republic, "Saffron Curtain: How Buddhism Was Weaponized During the Cold War," 23 Mar. 2018
Trump’s interest in having a large-scale military parade now is likely to receive a mixed reception, especially among those who are concerned about nationalism, militarism or the president’s past praise for authoritarian leaders.

— dan lamothe, Washington Post, "The military parade that Trump envisions was more common in another era," 6 Feb. 2018

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