mercenary

[ mur-suh-ner-ee ]
See synonyms for mercenary on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. working or acting merely for money or other reward; venal.

  2. hired to serve in a foreign army, guerrilla organization, etc.

noun,plural mer·ce·nar·ies.
  1. a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.

  2. any hireling.

Origin of mercenary

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mercenarie, from Latin mercēnnārius “working for pay, hired worker, mercenary,” perhaps from earlier mercēd(i)nārius (unrecorded), from mercēdin- (unrecorded), variant stem of mercēs “payment, wage” (akin to merx “goods”; cf. merchant) + -ārius -ary

Other words for mercenary

Opposites for mercenary

Other words from mercenary

  • mer·ce·nar·i·ly [mur-suh-nair-uh-lee, mur-suh-ner-], /ˌmɜr səˈnɛər ə li, ˈmɜr səˌnɛr-/, adverb
  • mer·ce·nar·i·ness, noun
  • non·mer·cen·ar·y, adjective, noun, plural non·mer·cen·ar·ies.
  • un·mer·ce·nar·i·ly, adverb
  • un·mer·ce·nar·i·ness, noun
  • un·mer·ce·nar·y, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mercenary in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for mercenary

mercenary

/ (ˈmɜːsɪnərɪ, -sɪnrɪ) /


adjective
  1. influenced by greed or desire for gain

  2. of or relating to a mercenary or mercenaries

nounplural -naries
  1. a man hired to fight for a foreign army, etc

  2. rare any person who works solely for pay

Origin of mercenary

1
C16: from Latin mercēnārius, from mercēs wages

Derived forms of mercenary

  • mercenarily, adverb
  • mercenariness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012