guerrillas

noun

variants or guerillas
plural of guerrilla
as in soldiers
a member of a usually small group of soldiers who do not belong to a regular army and who fight in a war as an independent unit The guerrillas controlled half the country.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of guerrillas But Bernard’s move is a gambit, meant to create a distraction while the Mechanical guerrillas set off dynamite charges in the mines, for reasons as yet unrevealed. — Noel Murray, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026 And, earlier this month, de la Espriella broke from precedent by giving his first post-inauguration speech at a military base in Cali that had recently been attacked, allegedly by guerrillas, instead of in Bogotá. — Daniel Castro, New Yorker, 18 Aug. 2026 About 70% of them are former FARC guerrillas, 29% are former members of the security forces and the rest are civilians. — ABC News, 9 July 2026 Cepeda had participated in and continued throughout the campaign to promote negotiations with guerrillas and cartels. — CBS News, 29 June 2026 Fighting between rebel groups The election comes 10 years after Colombia signed a historic peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, that had offered hope to break the nation’s vicious cycle of fighting between rebel groups and the government. — Regina Garcia Cano, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2026 Even after the Khmer Rouge was removed from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, archeological sites lay abandoned, littered with landmines or used for cover by militant guerillas. — Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 17 June 2026 The guerrillas took the high court hostage and intended to subject the then-president to a trial. — Michelle D. Paranzino, The Conversation, 11 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for guerrillas
  1. soldiers
  2. partisans
Noun
  • Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which traces its roots to 1954, involved around 18,000 Korean troops and an undisclosed number of American soldiers this year.
    — Lisa Kim, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The good news is the world has not seen a successful military coup since November of last year, when soldiers deposed the president of Guinea-Bissau on the coast of West Africa.
    — Keith B. Richburg, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of soldiers
Noun
  • Harald paid tribute to the Norwegian partisans who had fought alongside the Soviets during World War II, helping to restore the memory of a segment of the population that had long been marginalized in the official narrative of the war.
    — Stefania Conrieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
  • This week’s Pollwatcher answers a reader’s question about how polls select respondents and highlights how partisans in one state have flipped on a Democratic senator.
    — Scott Clement, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of partisans

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Cite this Entry

“Guerrillas.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guerrillas. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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