paramilitary conflict
- noun
- /ˌpærəˈmɪlɪˌtɛri ˈkɒnflɪkt/
- Literature
:
conflicto paramilitar
- The country has been experiencing a long-lasting paramilitary conflict that has disrupted the lives of thousands.
Examples
-
Many civilians have been caught in the crossfire during the paramilitary conflict between rival factions.
-
Efforts to resolve the paramilitary conflict through negotiation have so far been unsuccessful.
-
"The drug war, he warned, was more devious than a military struggle; this battle was more akin to a paramilitary conflict or a dirty
Academic text (2015)
Synonyms
∞
1.4
A violent fight between armed groups in a war
514
2.7
A violent fight between armed groups in a war
How Violent
∞
1.0
∞
1.4
- Literature
22
6.4
105
3.2
268
1.6
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'paramilitary' (resembling military forces) modifies 'conflict' (a battle or hostilities), so a learner who knows both words can infer a violent struggle involving non-official armed groups. This is a standard noun phrase construction and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner knowing the constituents should understand it.
Etymology
Paramilitary conflict comes from the idea of groups that act like soldiers but are not part of the official army: para means 'beside' and military means 'soldiers'. So the phrase now describes 'violent fighting' involving armed groups that are 'beside' or 'not part of the official army'.