Military

How to spell military

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce military

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does military mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to soldiers, armed forces, or the conduct of war.
2. nounThe armed forces of a country considered collectively.

Military in a sentence

• adjective

  The base houses several military aircraft and their crews.

• noun

  The military took control of the airport within hours.

• adjective

  His father served a long military career before retiring.

• noun

  She left the military after twelve years of service.

Where does military come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin militaris, meaning 'of soldiers or war', which was built on miles, with the stem milit-, the ordinary Latin word for a soldier. The Romans used militaris for anything connected to the army, from roads to discipline, and the same root produced relatives such as 'militia' and 'militant'. English took the word in during the late 1400s, partly through Old French militaire, first as an adjective describing armed forces and their affairs. By the 1700s it was also used as a collective noun for the armed services themselves. The spelling trap sits in the quiet middle: the unstressed 'i' in mil-i-tary is easy to drop or swap, and writers sometimes wrongly reach for an -ery ending instead of the correct -ary.

How the word is built

• milit- (from Latin miles, milit-: soldier)
• -ary (relating to)