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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Dissimilar Words
as in guerrilla
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of paramilitary
Reuters, NBC news, 3 Feb. 2026
Soon roving bands of local armed paramilitary men began to grab Jews off the street where they were taken to detention and then disappeared.
—Dr. Michael Good, Hartford Courant, 3 Feb. 2026
Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Sudan peace efforts resumed in Cairo on Wednesday with Egypt and the United Nations calling on warring parties to agree to a nationwide humanitarian truce, as the war between the army and its rival paramilitary nears the three-year mark.
—Fatma Khaled, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Adjective
The review produced evidence that Credit Suisse’s banking relationships with the Nazi’s paramilitary organization SS were more extensive than previously known, with the SS’s economic arm maintaining an account at the bank, Grassley said, citing the records.
—Reuters, NBC news, 3 Feb. 2026
Soon roving bands of local armed paramilitary men began to grab Jews off the street where they were taken to detention and then disappeared.
—Dr. Michael Good, Hartford Courant, 3 Feb. 2026
Noun
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij paramilitary are the enforcers and protectors of the ruling regime in Tehran, not the regular national army, known in Iran as the Artesh.
—Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026
Sudan peace efforts resumed in Cairo on Wednesday with Egypt and the United Nations calling on warring parties to agree to a nationwide humanitarian truce, as the war between the army and its rival paramilitary nears the three-year mark.
—Fatma Khaled, Los Angeles Times, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paramilitary
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paramilitary
Adjective
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And then big increases in military spending.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
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China retaliated by canceling flights, restricting imports of Japanese seafood and ramping up military patrols, among other measures.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Now operating from the shadows in Colombia, Roper has been operating a massive arms-smuggling ring with the goal of rebuilding his empire and bankrolling a private guerrilla army to topple the local government.—
Max Gao,
HollywoodReporter,
3 Feb. 2026
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Other artists of this era sought to intervene, guerrilla style, in the apparatuses of advertising, in order to shake consumers from their hypnotic slumber.—
Michael Cowan,
Artforum,
1 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Lockheed Martin unveiled a new kind of naval drone on February 9, designed to quietly ride into battle rather than sprint there on its own power.—
Sujita Sinha,
Interesting Engineering,
10 Feb. 2026
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Autonomous robotic submarines are very much in fashion as naval planners work on future strategies in which underwater drones play a key part in patrolling and monitoring the world's oceans.—
David Szondy
February 09,
New Atlas,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Israel's military has said its strikes are responses to Hamas violations of the ceasefire or militant attacks on its soldiers.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
5 Feb. 2026
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An acronym for Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, Equipment, SALUTE is a mnemonic device that typically instructs soldiers how to systematically track details about enemies.—
Asra Q. Nomani , Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi,
FOXNews.com,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Although Pakistan's capital has seen relatively few attacks compared with other regions, the country has experienced a recent rise in militant violence.—
MUNIR AHMED,
Arkansas Online,
8 Feb. 2026
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Although Pakistan’s capital has seen relatively few attacks compared with other regions, the country has experienced a recent rise in militant violence.—
Munir Ahmed,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 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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Keyboard warriors sent a slew of vile and threatening messages directly to Vann or posted online.—
Jane Harper,
Dallas Morning News,
7 Feb. 2026
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Seconds later, there was our reserved little boy, jumping his heart out next to a group of six-foot-something Maasai warriors.—
Flora Stubbs,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Warren establishes a Kempo Goju dojo in Kosovo Outside Kempo Goju, Warren served as a Wisconsin state trooper, and in 2000, his supervisors offered him an opportunity to travel to Europe to train police in Štrpce, Kosovo.—
Everett Eaton,
jsonline.com,
10 Feb. 2026
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The four Massachusetts State Police officers who have been charged with manslaughter in connection to the death of a trooper trainee Enrique Delgado-Garcia have been relieved of duty and had their certifications suspended.—
Colleen Cronin,
Boston Herald,
10 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Paramilitary.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paramilitary. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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