guerrilla
Americannoun
adjective
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pertaining to such fighters or their technique of warfare: guerrilla tactics.
guerrilla strongholds;
guerrilla tactics.
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of or relating to an unauthorized, edgy, or disruptive version of an activity: guerilla gardening to beautify an abandoned lot.
guerrilla filmmaking on a busy sidewalk;
guerilla gardening to beautify an abandoned lot.
noun
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a member of an irregular usually politically motivated armed force that combats stronger regular forces, such as the army or police
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( as modifier )
guerrilla warfare
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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
Other Word Forms
- antiguerrilla noun
- counterguerrilla adjective
- guerrillaism noun
Etymology
Origin of guerrilla
First recorded in 1800–10; from Spanish, diminutive of guerra “war” (of Germanic origin) + -illa diminutive suffix; originally in reference to the Spanish resistance against Napoleon; the name for the struggle erroneously taken as a personal noun; war 1, -elle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But as a group, the Taliban sustained more than 20 years of war against the US and its Nato allies, so its capacity to carry out unconventional and guerrilla warfare is well evidenced.
From BBC
However, the Afghan Taliban has extensive experience in guerrilla warfare.
From BBC
As civil war reshaped the country in 1996-2006, pitting Maoist guerrillas against the monarchy, he rose through the ranks of pro-democracy student groups linked to the Nepali Congress.
From Barron's
For decades, the Venezuelan government offered refuge for Colombian guerrilla groups.
In college he spent summers hitchhiking around South America, hiking to Machu Picchu and mostly ignoring warnings of guerrilla activity.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
