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Glite Dictionary
to demobilize

to demobilize

4 7.5
To release soldiers from military service and return them to civilian life
  • verb
  • /ˌdiːˈmoʊbɪlaɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : desmovilizar
  • U.S. forces, except for a relatively weak presence in occupied Germany, were back home and mostly demobilized.
  • demobilized soldiers
  • demobilized veterans
  • demobilized armed forces

And we did a project with former child soldiers and children demobilizing from armed groups, both with young boys and young girls.

Examples

  • Having been demobilized from the army, I now began working in my new profession.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Some countries, like France and Italy, chose to demobilize soldiers based on age.

  • Standing with them would be the large group of demobilized soldiers.

    Academic text (1992)

  • The former Soviet army is being demobilized and is already demoralized.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Although met with resistance, a full half-million had been demobilized by 1987.

    Academic text (1992)

  • After an initial unwillingness by the contra leadership to demobilize, a definitive agreement was finally reached on 30 May 1990.

    Academic text (1990)

  • When my battalion demobilized to Hanoi after Reunification, I had been away for six years.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Toward that end, the IRC recently received 800 demobilized child soldiers in Sierra Leone.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Between Stalin's death in March 1953 and August 1955, the Soviet armed forces demobilized 600,000 troops.

    Academic text (2018)

  • After the war ended, the government decided to demobilize all active soldiers and help them transition to civilian life.

Synonyms

to discharge
vsto demobilize
  • Formal
100 4.4

Officially release someone from a duty, job, or responsibility

applies specifically to returning military personnel to civilian life
to muster out
vsto demobilize
  • Jargon
1 7.2

Officially let a member of the military leave after their service ends

is used mainly to return soldiers to civilian life after a war
to inactivate
vsto demobilize
  • Formal
1 7.2

To officially take a person or unit out of military service

implies full release to civilian life rather than temporary inactivity
to unmobilize
vsto demobilize
  • Specialized
8.1

To send soldiers, teams, and equipment home and stop military or emergency activity

is the same action but emphasizes return of soldiers to civilian life
to demob
vsto demobilize
  • Archaic
9.1

To release someone from the military after their service

is the standard, more general term used in wider contexts
to civilianize
vsto demobilize
  • Specialized
7.3

To change something or someone from military to civilian use

is focused on releasing people rather than converting objects or systems

Antonyms

to mobilize
34 6.1

To prepare and organize troops and equipment for war

How Complete

to disband
43 4.3
to demobilize
  • Specialized
4 7.5
release
  • Formal
40 4.2
to stand down
123 5.1

Surface Forms

demobilize infinitive
demobilise infinitive
demobilized past
demobilised past
demobilized past participle
demobilised past participle
demobilizing present participle
demobilising present participle
demobilizes third person singular
demobilises third person singular

Morphology

demobilize = mobilize (transparent) = de + mobil + ize

Adding 'de-' to 'mobilize' gives the regular opposite meaning of ending or reversing mobilization.

Etymology

Demobilize combines de- meaning 'remove' with mobilize, from mobile meaning 'able to move'. So to demobilize is to 'remove' an army's ability to move and send soldiers back to civilian life after a war.