mercenary
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɜː.sə.nə.ɹi/
ipa: /ˈmɜː.sən.ɹi/
enpr: mûrʹsə-nĕr'ē
ipa: /ˈmɝ.səˌnɛɹ.i/
Forms: form: mercenaries
Etymology: From Middle English mercenarye (“someone paid to work, hireling”), from Latin mercēnārius (“hired for money”), from mercēs (“reward, wages, price”).
Senses: examples: text: J. Argyrofylus, a mercenary Greek, who came to teach school in Italy, after the sacking of Constantinople by the Turks, used to maintain that Cicero understood neither Philosophy nor Greek
ref: 1753, Alexander Pope, edited by William Warburton, The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq: Satires, &c, page 22:
text: Such a man emphatically deserves the name of fortune-hunter—a wretch as detestable in society, as destructive of domestic happiness! And if, when marriages are consummated on such plans, there be afterwards between the parties the least appearance of regard, and the common forms of decorum, it is more than can reasonably be expected, and infinitely more than such mercenaries deserve.
ref: 1811, William Giles, The guide to domestic happiness, 9th edition:
text: HOSPITAL NUNS./ Louis XVI. wishing to improve the state of the hospitals in France, sent a member of the Academy of Sciences to England, to enquire into the manner in which such establishments were conducted there. The commissioner praised them; but remarked, that two things were wanting; the zeal of the French parochial clergy, and the charity of the hospital nuns. "We have found, by sorrowful experience," said M. Portalis, that mercenaries, without any motive of feeling to attach them constantly to their duty, can never supply the place of persons animated by a spirit of religion,
ref: 1826, Sholto and Reuben Percy, Brothers of the Benedictine Monastery, Mont Benger, Title The Percy Anecdotes: Original and Select, volume 1:
text: In the higher ranks of life especially, it is, unhappily, a very common practice to commit to hired mercenaries, that important duty which nature at once commands and enables the mother to perform; that of suckling her infant.
ref: 1830, The Female's Encyclopaedia of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, page 404:
text: For that is the characteristic of a mercenary, who acts through interest, rather than of an affectionate child who acts through love. There is a great difference, say they, between the service of a slave, the service of a mercenary or hireling, and the service of a child.
ref: 1831, James Lanigan (bp. of Ossory.), Catechetical Conference on the Holy Eucharist, page 134:
glosses: One motivated by gain, especially monetary.
examples: text: He exhorts the emperor to revive the courage of his subjects by the example of manly virtue; to banish luxury from the court and from the camp; to substitute in the place of the Barbarian mercenaries, an army of men interested in the defence of their laws and of their property
ref: 1781, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 3:
text: If a mercenary died, that was one fewer man to pay. Mercenaries were an efficient way to run a military campaign especially in view of the employer's ability to hire and fire when and if the situation demanded
ref: 2004, Matthew Trundle, Greek Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic Period to Alexander:
text: The combat fatigues worn by the vehicle personnel did not appear to be standard military issue, more similar to what you would expect mercenaries to wear. Mercenaries, loyal to nothing except themselves and their off-shore bank accounts.
ref: 2005, Karl Arthur, The Calling, page 62:
glosses: A person employed to fight in an armed conflict who is not a member of the state or military group for which they are fighting and whose primary motivation is private gain.
glosses: One hired to engage in a figurative battle, as a corporate takeover, a lawsuit, or a political campaign.
Synonyms: word: adventurer
word: bravo
word: condottiere
word: filibuster
word: freebooter
word: freelance
word: free companion
word: hired gun
word: hireling
word: hit man
word: merc
word: mercenary
word: private military contractor
word: sellsword
word: soldier of fortune
Hypernyms: word: employee
word: fighter
word: payee
word: person
word: soldier
Hyponyms: word: condottiere
word: freelance
word: gallowglass
word: Landsknecht
word: lansquenet
word: Mamertine
word: routier
word: turcopole
word: sellsword
word: Wagnerite
word: assassin
word: bouncer
word: bodyguard
Related terms: sense: person employed to fight
english: private military contractor
translation: private military contractor
word: PMC