militia
Etymology

From Latin mīlitia, from mīles ("soldier").

The use of "militia" rather than "police" to refer to the police force (of Belarus and some other countries) originated in the USSR.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /məˈlɪʃə/
Noun

militia (plural militias)

  1. An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which may also be called upon, or a private force not under government control.
  2. Synonym of militsia: the national police force of certain countries (e.g. Belarus).
Translations


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
Offline English dictionary