Lexic.us

Definition of Mercenary

1. Noun. A person hired to fight for another country than their own.

2. Adjective. Marked by materialism.

3. Adjective. Serving for wages in a foreign army. "Mercenary killers"

4. Adjective. Profit oriented. "A moneymaking business"

Definition of Mercenary

1. a. Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers.

2. n. One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service.

Definition of Mercenary

1. Adjective. motivated by private gain ¹

2. Noun. 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. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Mercenary

1. [n -RIES]

Medical Definition of Mercenary

1. 1. Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers. 2. Hence: Moved by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish. "For God forbid I should my papers blot With mercenary lines, with servile pen." (Daniel) Synonym: See Venal. Origin: OE. Mercenarie, F. Mercenaire, fr. L. Mercenarius, fr. Merces wages, reward. See Mercy. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mercenary

mercapturic acid mercapturic acid pathway mercat mercatante mercatantes mercats mercature mercauro mercenaria mercenarian

mercenarians mercenaries mercenarily mercenariness mercenarinesses mercenary (current term) mercenary(a) mercer merceries mercerisation

mercerise mercerised mercerises mercerising mercerization mercerizations mercerize mercerized mercerizes mercerizing

Literary usage of Mercenary

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. English Constitutional History from the Teutonic Conquest to the Present Time by Thomas Pitt Taswell-Langmead (1905)
"Employment of mercenary troops. Assize of Arms, 1181. The ancient h'yrd revived. prietors were subject. These primitive institutions, which may be traced to ..."

2. The Law of Nations: Or, Principles of the Law of Nature Applied to the by Emer de Vattel, Joseph Chitty, Edward Duncan Ingraham (1867)
"Much has been said on the question—Whether the profession of a mercenary soldier be lawful ... And the mercenary soldier, having now learned the art of war, ..."

3. The Origin and Growth of the English Constitution: An Historical Treatise by Hannis Taylor (1898)
"The need thus created for mercenary soldiers, whose services could be controlled as long as they were required, led to the commutation of personal service ..."

4. Theory of Politics: An Inquiry Into the Foundations of Governments and the by Richard Hildreth (1853)
"Of Tyrannies, or Governments supported by mercenary Standing. Armies. NEXT to governments founded upon conquest may be reckoned, in the degree of pain which ..."

5. The Republic of Plato by Plato (1909)
"... whatever they approve; but that what the many say is really good and fair, have you ever yet heard one of these mercenary adventurers attempt to prove, ..."

6. The Law of Nations, Or, Principles of the Law of Nature Applied to the by Emer de Vattel, Joseph Chitty, Edward Duncan Ingraham (1852)
"Much has been said on the question—Whether the profession of a mercenary soldier be lawful ... And the mercenary soldier, having now learned the art of war, ..."

7. The Cambridge Modern History by Adolphus William Ward, George Walter Prothero (1907)
"Afterwards he indicates this as the period when he formed his well-known views upon the evils of mercenary service. The life of a mercenary—in camp or city— ..."

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