paramilitary
adjective
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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
Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News, 12 Mar. 2025
Loyalist military or paramilitary forces in Russia and Belarus have similarly quashed public dissent in recent years.
—Joe Wright, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2025
The Philippines, under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has pushed back most forcefully as an increasing number of Chinese coast guard and paramilitary vessels occupy the country's exclusive economic zone, hundreds of miles from Chinese shores.
—Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 4 Mar. 2025
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 300 Nicaraguans were killed and 2,000 injured by police and paramilitary goons in anti-government protests in 2018, a huge number for a small country of only six million people.
—Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 18 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Cite this Entry
“Paramilitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paramilitary. Accessed 27 Mar. 2025.
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