Word family noun militancy militant the military militia militarism militarist adjective military militant militaristic militarized adverb militantly militarily
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmilitiami‧li‧tia /məˈlɪʃə/ ●○○ noun [countable] PMa group of people trained as soldiers, who are not part of the permanent army He joined the local militia as soon as he was 16. a militia leader a left-wing militia groupExamples from the Corpus
militia• The colonists' principal instrument of slave control was the local militia.• In the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, the governor of Pennsylvania refused to call out the state militia.• The governor called out the militia, but it arrived too late.• It stated that the militias should dissolve by April 20,1991.• The militia would temporarily be in the hands of Parliament.• He left in 1803 without taking a degree and spent three years in a Wiltshire militia regiment.• Resistance from left-wing militia forces and loyalist Civil and Assault Guards was intermittently intense but incapable of seriously holding up the advance.Origin militia (1500-1600) Latin “military service”, from miles; → MILITARY1 