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
Annie Hylton, The New Yorker, 11 Jan. 2025
In September 1981, paramilitary troops gunned down 45 men, women, and children in the town of Las Navas in the central Philippines.
—Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
The Biden administration on Tuesday sanctioned the top general of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and determined the paramilitary group has committed genocide in the country, as well as crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 7 Jan. 2025
Hospitals and medical schools have been at the center of the attacks by the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is fighting the Sudanese army.
—Maria Isabel Barros Guinle, NPR, 7 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Paramilitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paramilitary. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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