Definitions for mercenary
ˈmɜr səˌnɛr imer·ce·na·ry

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenary, soldier of fortuneadjective

   a person hired to fight for another country than their own

2. materialistic, mercenary, worldly-mindedadjective

   marked by materialism

3. mercenary(a), free-lance(a), freelance(a)adjective

   serving for wages in a foreign army

   "mercenary killers"

4. mercantile, mercenary, moneymaking(a)adjective

   profit oriented

   "a commercial book"; "preached a mercantile and militant patriotism"- John Buchan; "a mercenary enterprise"; "a moneymaking business"

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. mercenarynoun

   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 prime or sole motivation is private gain.

2. mercenaryadjective

   motivated by private gain

3. Etymology: From mercenarius, from merces.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. MERCENARYadjective

   Venal; hired; sold for money; acting only for hire.

   Etymology: mercenaire, Fr. mercenarius, Lat.

   Many of our princes, woe the while!
   Lie drown’d, and soked in mercenary blood. William Shakespeare.

   Divers Almains, who served in the garisons, being merely mercenary, did easily incline to the strongest. Haywood.

   The appellation of servant imports a mercenary temper, and denotes such an one as makes his reward both the sole motive and measure of his obedience. Robert South, Sermons.

   ’Twas not for nothing I the crown resign’d;
   I still must own a mercenary mind. John Dryden, Aurengzebe.

2. Mercenarynoun

   A hireling; one retained or serving for pay.

   Etymology: mercenaire, Fr.

   He a poor mercenary serves for bread;
   For all his travel, only cloth’d and fed. George Sandys, Paraph.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Mercenary

   A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenary

   A mercenary is an individual, often a professional soldier, who is hired to fight in an armed conflict or serve a foreign entity for monetary gain or other compensations. They usually have no direct affiliation or loyalty to any specific nation, cause, or party and are primarily motivated by personal profit.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:1.0 / 1 vote

1. Mercenaryadjective

   acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers

2. Mercenaryadjective

   hence: Moved by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish

3. Mercenarynoun

   one who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service

WikidataRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Mercenary

   A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of that Party". As a result of the assumption that a mercenary is essentially motivated by money, the term mercenary usually carries negative connotations. There is a blur in the distinction between a mercenary and a foreign volunteer, when the primary motive of a soldier in a foreign army is uncertain. For instance, the French Foreign Legion and the Gurkhas of the British and Indian armies are not mercenaries under the laws of war, since although they may meet many of the requirements of Article 47 of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, they are exempt under clauses 47&; some journalists describe them as mercenaries nevertheless. Recently mercenary firm G4S has been reported as the second largest private employer in the world.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Mercenary

   mėr′se-nar-i, adj. hired for money: actuated by the hope of reward: greedy of gain: sold or done for money.—n. one who is hired: a soldier hired into foreign service.—adv. Mer′cenarily. [Fr.,—L., mercenarius—merces, hire.]

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenary

   Song lyrics by mercenary -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by mercenary on the Lyrics.com website.

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce mercenary?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say mercenary in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of mercenary in Chaldean Numerology is: 1

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of mercenary in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of mercenary in a Sentence

1. Kerry Brown:

   The problem is that the UK can't be seen as being too greedy and mercenary. It's going from one extreme to another.

2. Scott Morrison:

   When they are using people's personal information, details about their homes, it's not just their farm, it's their home, it's where their kids live and grow up, they are being targeted in the most mercenary way by an organisation that can only think of itself and not think to the real damage that is being done to the livelihoods of these hard-working Australians.

3. Theodore Karasik:

   It appears that Russia has opened 14 mercenary recruitment centers in Syria in territories controlled by the regime of Bashar al-Assad (Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor), after a short training, the mercenaries will be transported to Russia through the Khmeimim Air Base by two Tu-134 (up to 80 passengers) and Tu-154 (up to 180 passengers) aircraft to the Chkalovsky Air Base, Moscow region.

4. James Scott:

   A Nation State or Cyber-Mercenary won’t hack e-voting machines one by one. This takes too long and will have minimal impact. Instead, they’ll take an easier approach like spear phishing the manufacturer with malware and poison the voting machine update pre-election and allow the manufacturer to update each individual machine with a self-deleting payload that will target the tabulation process.

5. Teresa Cheng:

   The fact that such a very high-ranking official has uttered words such as ‘mercenary’ is, with respect, disgraceful to such a reputable counsel.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=mercenary
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mercenary
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=mercenary
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenary
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mercenary
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=mercenary
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=mercenary
9. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=mercenary