paramilitary
adjective
Did you know?
This term paramilitary can take in a wide range of organizations, but is usually applied to forces formed by a government. Groups opposing a government, even when organized along military lines, are more often referred to as guerrillas or insurgents. In countries with weak central governments (such as, in recent times, Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, or Congo), warlords may form their own paramilitary forces and take over all local police and military functions. Paramilitary often has a sinister sound today, since it's also applied to groups of off-duty military or police personnel who carry out illegal violence, often at night, with the quiet support of a government.
Examples of paramilitary in a Sentence
Sudarsan Raghavan, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 2026
Both the medical group and al-Majeri blamed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for the strike.
—Arkansas Online, 12 Mar. 2026
Mojtaba Khamenei maintains close ties with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary force that has been launching missiles and drones toward Israel and Gulf states during the conflict.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 9 Mar. 2026
The 56-year-old has close ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), signaling a continuation of his father's hard-line theocratic rule.
—Rachel Treisman, NPR, 9 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Cite this Entry
“Paramilitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paramilitary. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
Copy Citation
