militant

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English militant,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French militant,^[4][2][5][3] also taken directly as a learned borrowing from Latin mīlitāns (“serving as a soldier”),^[5][6][7] the present participle of mīlitō (“to serve as a soldier”),^[4][6][8][9] from mīles (“soldier”).^[8][3][10] The OED dates the French adjective to about 1370, its sense "combative in support of a cause" to 1832 and the French noun in that sense to 1848.^[4] The same Latin noun is the source of military, militate and militia.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Engaged in warfare, fighting: probably before 1425, in the Lanterne of Light, often of the Church;^[4][6] Barnhart dates it before 1415.^[13][5]

Semantic evolution

For most of its history the adjective meant "engaged in warfare",^[11] and it was used especially in Church militant, the Church on earth seen as fighting the devil, the flesh and the world, as against the Church triumphant in heaven.^[6][14][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "fighting" and "engaged in war", quoting Spenser's "they aid us militant".^[15] A sense "combative, aggressively persistent" appears in Florio's translation of Montaigne (1603),^[4] and Hoad dates "combative" to the 17th century.^[8] In 1876 Herbert Spencer used militant for a type of society organized above all for war.^[4] The modern political sense, aggressively active for a cause and often favouring confrontational methods, is recorded from 1893 in the OED,^[4] by 1907 in Etymonline;^[6] the Oxford Dictionary of English dates the current sense to the early 20th century,^[7] and Word Origins to the late 19th.^[11] The noun first meant a combatant (1610, in Giles Fletcher),^[4][5][6] and since 1851 a person who strongly espouses a cause;^[4] in Britain from 1970 Militant was also a supporter of the Trotskyist newspaper of that name and of the Militant Tendency.^[4][10]

Timeline

• before 1425 – engaged in warfare, also in Church militant.^[4][6]
• 1483 – of a banner or standard, military (obsolete by 1609).^[4]
• 1603 – combative, aggressively persistent.^[4]
• 1610 – noun, a combatant.^[4][5]
• 1851 – noun, a person who strongly espouses a cause.^[4]
• 1876 – in Herbert Spencer, of a society organized for war.^[4]
• 1893 – aggressively active in a political or social cause.^[4]
• 1970 – Militant, a supporter of the Trotskyist newspaper Militant.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Aggressively active or combative in support of a cause, often using confrontational methods: militant union members.^[10][2][4]
2. Engaged in warfare or fighting; warring.^[10][2][4]
3. (obsolete) Of a banner or standard: military.^[4][2]

Noun

1. A militant person, especially an activist in a political or social cause.^[2][10][4]
2. Militant: a member or supporter of the Militant Tendency, a Trotskyist group in Britain.^[10][4]

Word family

• militance
• militantly
• militantness
• militancy
• antimilitant
• hypermilitant
• nonmilitant
• supermilitant

Related words

• military
• militia
• militate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.