militant

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: mil=i=tant

CIDE DICTIONARY

militant, a. [L. militans, -antis, p. pr. of militare to be soldier: cf. F. militant. See Militate.].

 Engaged in warfare; fighting; combating; serving as a soldier.  [1913 Webster]
"At which command the powers militant . . .
Moved on in silence."  [1913 Webster]

Church militant, the Christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies, and is thus distinguished from the church triumphant, in heaven.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

militant, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 combative; aggressively active esp. in support of a (usu. political) cause.
2 engaged in warfare.
--n. a militant person, esp. a political activist.

Derivative

militancy n. militantly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L (as MILITATE)

THESAURUS

militant

active, activist, activistic, aggressive, aggressor, alive, animated, antagonistic, assertive, at war, ball of fire, battler, battling, beaver, bellicose, belligerent, belted knight, bickerer, big-time operator, blade, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, bouncing, bouncy, bravo, brawler, breezy, brisk, bubbly, bully, bullyboy, bustler, busy bee, chauvinist, chauvinistic, chipper, combatant, combative, competitor, contender, contentious, contestant, disputant, doer, duelist, eager beaver, ebullient, effervescent, embattled, enemy, energetic, enforcer, enthusiast, fencer, ferocious, feuder, fierce, fighter, fighting, fighting cock, foilsman, frisky, full of fight, full of go, full of life, full of pep, gamecock, gladiator, go-getter, goon, gorilla, hatchet man, hawkish, hood, hoodlum, hooligan, hostile, human dynamo, hustler, inimical, jingo, jingoish, jingoist, jingoistic, jouster, knight, live, live wire, lively, man of action, man of deeds, martial, mercurial, militaristic, military, new broom, offensive, operator, peppy, perky, pert, plug-ugly, political activist, powerhouse, pugnacious, pushful, pushing, pushy, quarreler, quarrelsome, quicksilver, rioter, rival, rough, rowdy, ruffian, saber-rattling, sabreur, sanguinary, sanguineous, savage, scrapper, scrappy, scuffler, self-assertive, smacking, snappy, soldier, soldierlike, soldierly, spanking, spirited, sprightly, spry, squabbler, strong arm, strong-arm man, strong-armer, struggler, swashbuckler, sword, swordplayer, swordsman, take-charge guy, thug, tilter, tough, trigger-happy, truculent, tussler, unfriendly, unpacific, unpeaceable, unpeaceful, up in arms, vivacious, warlike, warmongering, warring, warrior, wheeler-dealer, winner, wrangler, zingy

ROGET THESAURUS

militant

Warfare

N warfare, fighting, hostilities, war, arms, the sword, Mars, Bellona, grim visaged war, horrida bella, bloodshed, appeal to arms, appeal to the sword, ordeal of battle, wager of battle, ultima ratio regum, arbitrament of the sword, battle array, campaign, crusade, expedition, operations, mobilization, state of siege, battlefield, theater of operations, warpath, art of war, tactics, strategy, castrametation, generalship, soldiership, logistics, military evolutions, ballistics, gunnery, chivalry, gunpowder, shot, battle, tug of war, service, campaigning, active service, tented field, kriegspiel, Kriegsspiel, fire cross, trumpet, clarion, bugle, pibroch, slogan, war-cry, war-whoop, battle cry, beat of drum, rappel, tom-tom, calumet of war, word of command, password, watchword, passage d-armes, war to the death, war to the knife, guerre a mort, guerre a outrance, open war, internecine war, civil war, contending, contentious, armed, armed to the teeth, armed cap-a-pie, sword in hand, in arms, under arms, up in arms, at war with, bristling with arms, in battle array, in open arms, in the field, embattled, battled, unpacific, unpeaceful, belligerent, combative, armigerous, bellicose, martial, warlike, military, militant, soldier-like, soldierly, chivalrous, strategical, internecine, flagrante bello, in the thick of the fray, in the cannon's mouth, at the sword's point, at the point of the bayonet, Int, vae victis!, to arms!, to your tents O Israel!, the battle rages, a la guerre comme a la guerre, bis peccare in bello non licet, jus gladii, my voice is still for war, 'tis well that war is so terrible, otherwise we might grow fond of it, my sentence is for open war, pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, the cannons have their bowels full of wrath, the cannons aspit forth their iron indignation, the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, silent leges inter arma, si vis pacem para bellum.