guerrilla
or gue·ril·la
[ guh-ril-uh ]
/ gəˈrɪl ə /
noun
a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc.
adjective
pertaining to such fighters or their technique of warfare: guerrilla strongholds; guerrilla tactics.
Origin of guerrilla
1800–10; < Spanish, diminutive of
guerra war (< Germanic; cf.
war1); orig. in reference to the Spanish resistance against Napoleon; the name for the struggle erroneously taken as a personal noun
OTHER WORDS FROM guerrilla
guer·ril·la·ism, noun an·ti·guer·ril·la, noun, adjective coun·ter·guer·ril·la, adjectiveWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH guerrilla
gorilla guerrillaWords nearby guerrilla
guerilla,
guernica,
guernsey,
guernsey lily,
guerrero,
guerrilla,
guerrilla theater,
guerrilla warfare,
guesclin,
guesde,
guess
Example sentences from the Web for guerrilla
British Dictionary definitions for guerrilla
guerrilla
guerilla
/ (ɡəˈrɪlə) /
noun
- a member of an irregular usually politically motivated armed force that combats stronger regular forces, such as the army or police
- (as modifier)guerrilla warfare
a form of vegetative spread in which the advance is from several individual rhizomes or stolons growing rapidly away from the centre, as in some clovers
Compare phalanx
Derived forms of guerrilla
guerrillaism or guerillaism, nounWord Origin for guerrilla
C19: from Spanish, diminutive of
guerra
war