guerilla force
- noun
- /ɡəˈrɪlə fɔrs/
:
fuerza guerrillera
- The local guerilla force carried out nighttime raids on government supply lines.
Examples
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Despite their small numbers, the guerilla force successfully disrupted enemy operations.
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Nocturnal attacks from unseen guerilla forces have continued to plague villages...
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Villagers often lived in fear of the guerilla forces that roamed the dense forests.
Synonyms
2
6.5
A group of armed fighters who use sudden attacks against a larger army in rural areas
How Large
Surface Forms
Morphology
guerilla + force
The meaning 'an irregular group of armed fighters' is directly compositional from 'guerilla' (irregular fighters or relating to irregular warfare) + 'force' (a group of trained fighters). This attributive noun–noun construction is a regular, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The name guerilla force comes from the Spanish word guerilla, literally 'little war', and force meaning a group of fighters. It paints the image of small bands hiding in the countryside and attacking by surprise, so today it means 'an irregular group of armed fighters'.