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militia Definition

mi·li·tia (mə lis̸h′ə)

noun

    1. Archaic any military force
    2. later, any army composed of citizens rather than professional soldiers, called up in time of emergency
  2. ☆ in the U.S., all able-bodied male citizens between 18 and 45 years old who are not already members of the regular armed forces: members of the National Guard and of the Reserves (of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps) constitute the organized militia; all others, the unorganized militia
  3. any of various disaffected groups of citizens that are organized as to resemble an army and that oppose the authority of the federal government

Etymology: L, military service, soldiery < miles (gen. militis), soldier

militia Related Forms

mi·li′·tia·man (-mən) noun pl. -·men-mən

militia Synonyms

militia

n.

military force, civilian army, National Guard; see army 1.

militia Usage Examples

Possessives

worker: In place there will be a workers ' militia that will embody the right of everyone to bear arms.

Converse of object

  • disarm: Using Chapter 7 powers, the Security Council gave the government of Sudan until the end of August to disarm the Janjaweed militia.
  • ally: Christian Aid presented evidence of people living in Lundin's concession area being bombed and displaced by Government troops and allied militia.

Adjective modifier

  • Shiite: Saturday morning, however, the Shiite militia turned their guns again on US troops in Baghdad.
  • government-backed: In Darfur, fighting between local and Sudanese government-backed militia has left more than 2.5 million people dependent on food aid.
  • armed: They were then held in shallow sea pens, which were heavily guarded by armed militia.
  • Kurdish: There have been a slew of reports in the press claiming the Kurdish militias have intensified their training in preparations for war.
  • Arab: Impunity In the early days of the Darfur crisis the Khartoum government armed Arab militia to fight the rebels.
  • Lebanese: Israel did withdraw - but handed over the territory not to UNIFIL but to Christian Lebanese militia.

Modifies a noun

  • muster: Third, Mr Furlong takes issue with Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on the date of the first nationally called militia muster.
  • regiment: These militia regiments were a kind of early version of the Home Guard.
  • fighter: More than 17,000 foreign troops disarmed tens of thousands of rebels and militia fighters.
  • commander: A local former militia commander had secretly stored the ammunition near his home.
  • leader: He became good friends with some right-wing militia leaders.

Noun used with modifier

  • janjaweed: Using Chapter 7 powers, the Security Council gave the government of Sudan until the end of August to disarm the Janjaweed militia.
  • pro-government: Tens of thousand of people have died in three years of conflict in Darfur, most killed by pro-government militias.
  • Hutu: In 1993 in Rwanda the Hutu militia went on a killing rampage, murdering more than 800,000 Tutsi people.
  • islamist: The paper provides a detailed assessment of the behavior of the security forces and the handling of the Islamist militia group Laskar Jihad.
  • youth: The police vehicles in the road outside were missing, and there were no members of the youth militia to be seen.
  • citizen: TWO: THE RESPONSE During the past few years, there has been an enormous growth of citizen militias in the United States.