militate

English

Etymology

From Latin mīlitātus, from mīlitō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪlɪteɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Verb

militate (third-person singular simple present militates, present participle militating, simple past and past participle militated)

1. To give force or effect toward; to influence.

   to militate in favor of a particular result

   to militate against the possibility of his election

   • 1944 January and February, W. J. Reynolds, “Locomotive No. 1007 of the Great Northern Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 7:

     The 8-ft. singles were pre-eminently express engines, and were not satisfactory on secondary duties where frequent stops were called for, which militated against their being retained in service.

   • 2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes‎^[1], page 308:

     There are a number of theoretical concerns which might seem to militate against the successful creation of a dictionary of Indian English.

2. (obsolete) To serve as a soldier or participate in warfare.
   • 1625, Nathanael Brent, Free Schoole of Warre:

     This..moues many Italian Caualiers to militate in the warres of Holland.

Translations

to influence

• Bulgarian: преча (bg) (preča), препятствам (bg) (prepjatstvam)
• French: militer (fr)
• Greek: στρατεύομαι (el) (stratévomai), αντιστρατεύομαι (el) (antistratévomai)
• Russian: спосо́бствовать (ru) impf (sposóbstvovatʹ) (in favor), препя́тствовать (ru) impf (prepjátstvovatʹ) (against), быть поме́хой impf (bytʹ poméxoj) (against), меша́ть (ru) impf (mešátʹ) (against)

References

• “militate”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “militate-against”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.

Anagrams

• limitate

Esperanto

Adverb

militate

1. present adverbial passive participle of militi

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

militate

1. inflection of militare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

militate f pl

1. feminine plural of militato

Anagrams

• limitate, metilati

Latin

Participle

mīlitāte

1. vocative masculine singular of mīlitātus

Spanish

Verb

militate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of militar combined with te