Martial

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: mar=tial

CIDE DICTIONARY

Martial, a. [F., fr. L. martialis of or belonging to Mars, the god of war. Cf. March the month.].

•  Of, pertaining to, or suited for, war; military; as, martial music; a martial appearance.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Practiced in, or inclined to, war; warlike; brave.  [1913 Webster]

  "But peaceful kings, o'er martial people set,
  Each other's poise and counterbalance are."  [1913 Webster]
•  Belonging to war, or to an army and navy; -- opposed to civil; as, martial law; a court-martial.  [1913 Webster]
•  Pertaining to, or resembling, the god, or the planet, Mars.  Sir T. Browne.  [1913 Webster]
•  Pertaining to, or containing, iron; chalybeate; as, martial preparations.  [1913 Webster]

Martial flowers (Med.), a reddish crystalline salt of iron; the ammonio-chloride of iron. [Obs.] -- Martial law, the law administered by the military power of a government when it has superseded the civil authority in time of war, or when the civil authorities are unable to enforce the laws. It is distinguished from military law, the latter being the code of rules for the regulation of the army and navy alone, either in peace or in war.

Syn. -- Martial, Warlike.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Martial, adj.
1 of or appropriate to warfare.
2 warlike, brave; fond of fighting.

Idiom

martial arts fighting sports such as judo and karate. martial law military government, involving the suspension of ordinary law.

Derivative

martially adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF martial or L martialis of the Roman god Mars: see MARS

THESAURUS

Martial

aggressive, antagonistic, battling, bellicose, belligerent, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brave, chauvinist, chauvinistic, combative, contentious, courageous, enemy, ferocious, fierce, fighting, full of fight, hawkish, high-spirited, hostile, inimical, jingo, jingoish, jingoist, jingoistic, mettlesome, militant, militaristic, military, offensive, pugnacious, quarrelsome, saber-rattling, sanguinary, sanguineous, savage, scrappy, soldierlike, soldierly, spirited, stalwart, staunch, trigger-happy, truculent, unfriendly, unpacific, unpeaceable, unpeaceful, valiant, valorous, warlike, warmongering, warring

ROGET THESAURUS

Martial

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.