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militia

UK/məˈlɪʃə/US/məˈlɪʃə/
nounC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,593 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: militias

A militia is a force of ordinary citizens armed for emergencies. A local militia, militia groups, call out the militia.

It is a body raised from the population rather than a standing army, which is what the American constitutional argument turns on. In modern reporting it usually means an armed group outside state control.

Unidentified photographer · Public domain

Definitions of militia

  1. 1nounmilitiaA force of ordinary citizens armed for emergencies.C1

    “When the soldiers left, the villagers formed a militia to defend their homes.”

militia is a force.

Where it comes from

Latin militia means military service, from miles, a soldier.

  1. Latin

    mīlitia — army, military force/service

  2. English, today

    militia

Built from

  • mīles · Latin — soldier

From Latin mīlitia (“army, military force/service”), from mīles (“soldier”). a doublet of militsia. The use of "militia" rather than "police" to refer to the police force (of Belarus and some other countries) originated in the USSR.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

militia in the wild

  • When acting independently, militias are generally unable to hold ground against regular forces.

    Militia

  • However, militias may also engage in defense activities to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws.

    Militia

  • For example, the Pennsylvania convention debated fifteen amendments, one of which concerned the right of the people to be armed, another with the militia.

    Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

  • The first colony-wide militia was formed by Massachusetts in 1636 by merging small, older local units, and several National Guard units can be traced back to this militia.

    National Guard (United States)

  • The various colonial militias became state militias when the United States became independent.

    National Guard (United States)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.