Meaning & use
paramilitary
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Organized like an army, with ranks and weapons, but not a regular part of a country's official armed forces.
Grammar: Goes before a noun: a paramilitary group.
Patterns
- a paramilitary group
- paramilitary police
Paramilitary groups controlled several villages in the region.
The government banned all paramilitary organizations.
Officials said the attack was carried out by paramilitary forces.
nouncountable
A member of such a force, or the force itself.
Grammar: Often plural: paramilitaries; the singular is used for one member.
Patterns
- a paramilitary
- paramilitaries in the area
Witnesses saw armed paramilitaries on the road.
A former paramilitary spoke at the peace talks.
Paramilitaries were disarmed under the agreement.
Word forms
| plural | paramilitaries |
|---|
Common combinations
- paramilitary group
- The paramilitary group refused to disarm.
- paramilitary force
- A paramilitary force guarded the border.
- paramilitary police
- Paramilitary police patrolled the capital.
- paramilitary training
- The members received paramilitary training in the hills.
- paramilitary organization
- The paramilitary organization was linked to political violence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- militia
- Militia usually means a force of ordinary citizens organized for defense, while paramilitary stresses military style outside the regular army.
- irregular
- Irregular describes fighters outside a formal army and is common in military writing, but it does not suggest army-like organization.
- armed
- Armed only means carrying weapons and has no hint of military structure.
- quasi-military
- Quasi-military is a plainer way to say partly military, and it is used less often than paramilitary.
Opposites
Word family
- military adjective
- relating to armed forces
- paramilitaries noun
- members of paramilitary groups
- paramilitarism noun
- the existence or use of paramilitary groups
- militarize verb
- to equip with military force
Commonly confused: paramilitary or paramedic? paramilitary or parliamentary?
paramilitary vs paramedic
A paramedic is a trained emergency medical worker and is not a type of soldier.
paramilitary vs parliamentary
Parliamentary relates to a parliament, which is a lawmaking body and not an armed force.
Practice
Which group is best described as paramilitary?
Choose one answer.
Paramilitary groups are army-like but not part of the regular military. A regular air force is part of the official armed forces, so it is not paramilitary.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “paramilitary”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.