militia

The word “militia” means a group of ordinary citizens organised to act as soldiers, usually only called up in an emergency rather than serving as a full-time professional army. In plain terms, a part-time or volunteer fighting force made up of ordinary people, rather than professional soldiers.

“Militia” is pronounced muh-LIH-shuh (/məˈlɪʃə/ in IPA).

Here is “militia” used in a sentence: “Local farmers formed a militia to defend the town.”

“Militia” is a noun.

The word “militia” comes from Latin. From Latin mīlitia, "military service," from mīles, "soldier.".

“Militia” is a fairly common word in modern English.

A militia is made up of ordinary citizens organized to act as soldiers, usually called up only in an emergency, whereas an army is a permanent, full-time professional fighting force. Militia members typically hold civilian jobs and train part-time.

The military is a nation's official, professional armed forces, while a militia is a body of ordinary citizens who serve as soldiers on a temporary or emergency basis. A militia may support the regular military or operate separately from it.

Not exactly. A militia is a group of ordinary citizens organized as soldiers, often with some official or community basis, while paramilitary describes forces organized like a military but outside the regular armed forces. The terms overlap, but militias are traditionally tied to emergency civilian defense.

Militia is a collective noun referring to a single body of citizen-soldiers, so it usually takes a singular verb. The plural 'militias' is used when referring to more than one such group.