Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To have force or influence; bring about an effect or a change.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To be in conflict or at variance; come into collision.
- Hence To stand in array; have weight or force, as in determining anything: followed by against, and permissibly by in favor of: as, these facts militate against (or in fovor of) your theory.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To make war; to fight; to contend; -- usually followed by
against andwith .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To give
force oreffect toward; toinfluence . - verb obsolete To
fight .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb have force or influence; bring about an effect or change
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She felt that she had spoken as impressively as it was necessary to do, and that in using the superior word "militate" she had thrown a noble drapery over a mass of particulars which were still evident enough.
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She felt that she had spoken as impressively as it was necessary to do, and that in using the superior word "militate" she had thrown a noble drapery over a mass of particulars which were still evident enough.
Middlemarch 1871
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She felt that she had spoken as impressively as it was necessary to do, and that in using the superior word "militate" she had thrown a noble drapery over a mass of particulars which were still evident enough.
Middlemarch George Eliot 1849
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"militate" against the rights of minorities, the LJP has urged the Centre to ensure that the legislation does not
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Mrs. Binks did not know what "militate" meant, unless it might be something in connection with the church militant, of which she had heard a great deal; but she was not a mild-tempered woman, and she grew very red in the face at this reproof. "
The Lovels of Arden 1875
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We agree with the great publisher William Packard of the New York Quarterly, who said he wanted to present the printed poem in the best possible way; he thought that “bad printing and mediocre book design inevitably militate against a fair reading of a poem”.
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Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets?
Chris Weigant: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vietnam Speech Chris Weigant 2011
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Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets?
Chris Weigant: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Vietnam Speech Chris Weigant 2011
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The imbalances inherent in the material—some elements already have shelves of works dedicated to them, while others warrant a paragraph or less—also militate against a satisfying structure.
Periodic Table Talk Mike Jay 2011
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We agree with the great publisher William Packard of the New York Quarterly, who said he wanted to present the printed poem in the best possible way; he thought that “bad printing and mediocre book design inevitably militate against a fair reading of a poem”.
April « 2009 « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground 2009
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