militarism (n.)

1841, "military spirit, addiction to war or military practice," from French militarisme, from militaire "military" (see military); also see -ism. By 1864 in reference to nations or peoples, "predominance of the military class, maintenance of national power by means of standing armies."

Entries linking to militarism

military (adj.)

mid-15c., militari, "pertaining to or befitting soldiers; used, done, or brought about by soldiers," from Old French militaire (14c.) and directly from Latin militaris "of soldiers or war, of military service, warlike," from miles (genitive militis) "soldier," a word of unknown origin.

Perhaps ultimately from Etruscan, or else meaning "one who marches in a troop," and thus connected to Sanskrit melah "assembly," Greek homilos "assembled crowd, throng." De Vaan writes, "It is tempting to connect mīlia [pl.] 'thousand(s)', hence *mīli-it- 'who goes with/by the thousand' ...." Related: Militarily. Old English had militisc, from Latin.

Military police is from 1827. Military age, at which one becomes liable to military service, is by 1737. Military-industrial complex was coined 1961 in the farewell speech of U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower.

-ism

word-forming element making nouns implying a practice, system, doctrine, etc., from French -isme or directly from Latin -isma, -ismus (source also of Italian, Spanish -ismo, Dutch, German -ismus), from Greek -ismos, noun ending signifying the practice or teaching of a thing, from the stem of verbs in -izein, a verb-forming element denoting the doing of the noun or adjective to which it is attached. For distinction of use, see -ity. The related Greek suffix -isma(t)- affects some forms.

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updated on January 30, 2019

Definitions of militarism from WordNet

militarism (n.)

a political orientation of a people or a government to maintain a strong military force and to be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests;

From wordnet.princeton.edu, not affiliated with etymonline.

Dictionary entries near militarism

Milicent

milieu

militancy

militant

militarise

militarism

militarist

militaristic

militarization

militarize

military