as in military
of or relating to a group that is not an official army but that operates and is organized like an army
Government forces have been attacked by heavily armed paramilitary groups in several villages. a paramilitary police force
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as in guerrilla
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of paramilitary
Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026
Specifics weren’t given, but volunteers will likely be taken into the Basij, a pro-regime paramilitary force subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 1 Apr. 2026
Arkansas Online, 2 Mar. 2026
Experts have warned that the war will continue so long as foreign powers — namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt — continue backing and funding the belligerents, including a paramilitary accused of perpetrating a genocide.
—semafor.com, 25 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Adjective
Fire departments, inspired by the war, were already reorganizing under a new paramilitary structure to more quickly and aggressively respond to blazes although most were still primarily volunteer-based.
—Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2026
Specifics weren’t given, but volunteers will likely be taken into the Basij, a pro-regime paramilitary force subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
—Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 1 Apr. 2026
Noun
Golshan Fathi, a woman living in Tehran, said the Basij paramilitary, which played a key role in the bloody crushing of mass protests last month, was showing a heavy presence in the streets of the capital.
—Arkansas Online, 2 Mar. 2026
Experts have warned that the war will continue so long as foreign powers — namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt — continue backing and funding the belligerents, including a paramilitary accused of perpetrating a genocide.
—semafor.com, 25 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paramilitary
Adjective
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On the broader military front, thousands of Marines aboard the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday, with additional forces en route from the West Coast.—
Adeola Adeosun,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Mar. 2026
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Many Iranians worry the country’s people are being treated as collateral by military leaders involved in the conflict, Saeedi said.—
Michael Loria,
USA Today,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Prometheus got something of a rehab a few years ago, and a while after that, a couple of guerrilla artists stuck an outsized meth pipe in his hand.—
Patt Morrison,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2026
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President Javier Milei’s government has called for a broader account that also includes victims of left-wing guerrilla violence, which some suggest is a way to minimize the crimes of the dictatorship.—
Juan Melamed,
Sun Sentinel,
31 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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The naval preparation in the Red Sea comes as roughly 2,000 ships and 20,000 crew members remain stuck in the Persian Gulf.—
Glenn Taylor,
Sourcing Journal,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Wiseman, 50, was born in Baltimore and had a career as a naval aviator and test pilot before being chosen as an astronaut candidate in 2009.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
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The village’s Black residents, including Hettie, are energized by a promising but tangled effort to redress a long-standing injustice—the unequal compensation received by Black South African soldiers in the Second World War.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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But the response to Alcock in many online corners has been as if the actress went on a militant feminist rant slamming all male fans and threw a massive pity party for herself.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Apr. 2026
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But the regime shows no sign of unraveling, and the people who have replaced senior leaders are known as equally hard-line or arguably even more militant than their predecessors, according to Western officials and experts on Iran.—
Abigail Williams,
NBC news,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Some galaxies, known as irregulars, don't fit neatly into either mold.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
29 Sep. 2025
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The existence of the irregulars raises an important question: How small can a galaxy get?—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
8 May 2025
Noun
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The theology in such conflicts usually masks more primal power struggles and still tends to make the wars and warriors more fanatical and bloodthirsty.—
Andreas Kluth,
Twin Cities,
3 Apr. 2026
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Fearless Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya) returns in a different romantic capacity.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The driver sustained only minor visible injuries, according to troopers.—
Zachary Bynum,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
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According to court records, Hickerson was driving north on Ambassador Drive through Northwest 88th Street when he was pulled over by a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper for allegedly crossing over into the right lane.—
Ben Wheeler,
Kansas City Star,
31 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Paramilitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paramilitary. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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