Definition of 'guerrilla'
Word forms: plural guerrillas
countable noun [oft NOUN noun]
A guerrilla is someone who fights as part of an unofficial army, usually against an official army or police force.
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Video: pronunciation of
guerrilla
guerrilla in British English
noun
1.
a.
b.
(as modifier)
guerrilla warfare
2.
a form of vegetative spread in which the advance is from several individual rhizomes or stolons growing rapidly away from the centre, as in some clovers
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Derived forms
guerrillaism (guerˈrillaism) or guerillaism (gueˈrillaism) noun
Word origin
C19: from Spanish, diminutive of guerra warguerrilla in American English
noun
adjective
Also sp. gueˈrilla
3.
of or by guerrillas
4.
Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
guerrilla in American English
(ɡəˈrɪlə)
noun
1.
a member of a band of irregular soldiers that uses guerrilla warfare, harassing the enemy by surprise
raids, sabotaging communication and supply lines, etc
adjective
Also: guerilla2.
guerrilla strongholds
guerrilla tactics
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019
by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Derived forms
guerrillaism noun
Word origin
[1800–10; ‹ Sp, dim. of guerra war (‹ Gmc; cf. war1); orig. in reference to the Spanish resistance against Napoleon; the name for the
struggle erroneously taken as a personal n.]Examples of 'guerrilla' in a sentence
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In other languages
guerrilla
British English: guerrilla
NOUN /ɡəˈrɪlə/
A guerrilla is someone who fights as part of an unofficial army, usually against an official army or police force.
They were kidnapped by guerillas.
- American English: guerrilla /gəˈrɪlə/
- Brazilian Portuguese: guerrilheiro
- Chinese: 游击队员
- European Spanish: guerrillero
- French: guérillero
- German: Guerillakämpfer
- Italian: guerrigliero
- Japanese: 遊撃隊員
- Korean: 게릴라병
- European Portuguese: guerrilheiro
- Latin American Spanish: guerrillero
- Thai: นักรบกองโจร
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Definition of guerrilla from the Collins English Dictionary
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