as in battalion
a group of people who are not part of the armed forces of a country but are trained like soldiers
Local militia were an important part of American forces during the Revolutionary War.
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Recent Examples of militia
Image Alongside Russia, Iran has been the Syrian government’s most powerful supporter, sending advisers and commanders to bases and the front lines and backing militias.
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Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2024
The next steps in Hama will determine whether opposition forces can consolidate their gains or if Assad's forces, backed by allied militias, can regroup to push them back.
—Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024
Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, was recaptured last week by rebel groups after a surprise offensive overran President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and allied militias.
—Mostafa Salem and Eyad Kourdi, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
Iran’s proxy Hezbollah has been instrumental in assisting Assad regain territory lost to militias and rebel groups.
—Mostafa Salem, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for militia 
Farnaz Fassihi, New York Times, 7 Dec. 2024
The next steps in Hama will determine whether opposition forces can consolidate their gains or if Assad's forces, backed by allied militias, can regroup to push them back.
—Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024
Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, was recaptured last week by rebel groups after a surprise offensive overran President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and allied militias.
—Mostafa Salem and Eyad Kourdi, CNN, 5 Dec. 2024
Iran’s proxy Hezbollah has been instrumental in assisting Assad regain territory lost to militias and rebel groups.
—Mostafa Salem, CNN, 29 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for militia
Recent Examples of Synonyms for militia
Noun
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Trap has a Hitchcockian setup, in which a serial killer (the wonderfully nervy Josh Hartnett) brings his daughter to a pop concert and then must escape a battalion of police who are after him, without giving away his secret.David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2024
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Part of a guarantor force—such as air defense and combat air patrols or a spearhead battalion to serve in a training role—could even be deployed while the war is still underway.Elie Tenenbaum, Foreign Affairs, 3 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The relationship went both ways, with Hezbollah fighters serving as shock troops that bolstered Assad’s flagging army — an intervention the group justified as protecting Shiite minorities and shrines in Syria from Islamist and jihadi factions in the opposition.Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 11 Dec. 2024
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The army has stepped up airstrikes in the half of the country that the RSF controls, while the RSF has staged raids on villages and intense artillery strikes.Reuters, CNN, 11 Dec. 2024
Noun
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It is based on her reporting about the murder by Salvadoran soldiers of more than 1,000 civilian residents of the village of El Mozote in 1981, and the return of survivors years later.Jim Higgins, Journal Sentinel, 11 Dec. 2024
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Decades after Israeli soldiers raped and killed a Palestinian teenager during a massacre of Bedouins, a woman in Ramallah becomes obsessed with the story and sneaks into Israel to find out more.The Week US, theweek, 10 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Militia.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/militia. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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