militant

From Middle French militant, from Latin mīlitāns, present participle of mīlitāre (“to serve as a soldier”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪlɪtənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

militant (comparative more militant, superlative most militant)

1. Fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike. [from 15th c.]
   • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 394:

     The upper tiers of the foreign ministry were quick to embrace a militant policy.

   • 2024 July 5, Reuters, “Militant group blamed for 2002 Bali bombings to be disbanded, say senior leaders”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     Senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian militant network blamed for the deadly Bali bombings, have announced they are disbanding the group, according to a report by a Jakarta-based think tank on Thursday.

2. Aggressively supporting of an idea, group, political or social cause, etc.; adamant, combative. [from 17th c.]
   • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 6:

     The physiological state is not itself militant against erotic expression.

• warrish

militant (plural militants)

1. (obsolete) A soldier, a combatant. [17th–19th c.]
2. An entrenched or aggressive adherent to a particular cause, now especially a member of a particular ideological faction. [from 19th c.]
   • 1976 December 11, Thom Willenbecher, quoting Jean O'Leary, “Women's Caucus Quits Gay Academic Union”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 1:

     [Jim Owles] lamented the declining influence of militant organizations and tactics, stating that militants "help keep the rest of us honest," and prevent moderates from selling out.

   • 2008 February 19, John F. Burns, “Britain: Life Sentence in Beheading Plot”, in The New York Times‎^[2]:

     Described by witnesses as a keen cricketer and pubgoer until contacts with Islamic militants radicalized him on a trip to Pakistan, he was ordered to serve at least 14 years for the plot, and for supplying militants in Afghanistan with money and equipment.

   • 2008, Militants in Pakistan release 250 schoolchildren after taking them hostage, Wikinews:

     Officials in Pakistan have confirmed that at least 250 schoolchildren between 12 and 18 years old and several teachers were taken hostage by at least seven militants inside a high school in Domail.

3. (specifically, communism) someone who supports the Trotskyist political view expressed in the newspaper Militant. [from 20th c.]

• Militant Tendency
• ultramilitant

• militance
• military
• militia

militant m or f (masculine and feminine plural militants)

1. a militant

militant

1. gerund of militar

• “militant”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “militant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “militant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “militant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from French militant.

• IPA^(key): /ˌmi.liˈtɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mi‧li‧tant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

militant (comparative militanter, superlative militantst)

1. militant (belligerent, tending to violence, defensive)

• militair
• militie

militant m (plural militanten)

1. a militant, combatant
2. a devoted supporter, activist

• partijmilitant
• vakbondsmilitant

From militer.

• IPA^(key): /mi.li.tɑ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

militant (feminine militante, masculine plural militants, feminine plural militantes)

1. militant

militant m (plural militants)

1. an activist, campaigner

   Synonyms: partisan, supporter, supporteur

• Unlike in English, the French noun militant can mean any activist or supporter and does not connote an aggressive approach.

militant

1. present participle of militer

• “militant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• limitant

Borrowed from Latin mīlitāns.

• IPA^(key): /miliˈtant/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ant

militant (strong nominative masculine singular militanter, comparative militanter, superlative am militantesten)

1. militant

mīlitant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of mīlitō

• Audio:

  (file)

militant m (feminine singular militanta, masculine plural militants, feminine plural militantas)

1. militant

Borrowed from French militant.

militant m or n (feminine singular militantă, masculine plural militanți, feminine and neuter plural militante)

1. activist

militant (comparative militantare, superlative militantast)

1. militant (belligerent)
2. militant (combative)

• militant in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• militant in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• militant in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)