militant
/ˈmɪlɪtənt/ adjective, noun
Forms militants
- adjective Fighting or disposed to fight; belligerent, warlike.
- adjective Aggressively supporting of an idea, group, political or social cause, etc.; adamant, combative.
- noun (obsolete) A soldier, a combatant.
- noun An entrenched or aggressive adherent to a particular cause, now especially a member of a particular ideological faction.
- noun (specifically, communism) Someone who supports the Trotskyist political view expressed in the newspaper Militant.
Synonyms
warrish activist hawkish warlike competitive belligerent war-ridden warring
Etymology
From Middle French militant, from Latin mīlitāns, present participle of mīlitāre (“to serve as a soldier”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. militans, -antis, p. pr. of militare to be soldier: cf. F. militant. See Militate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “militant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details