mercenary
pronunciation
How to pronounce mercenary in British English:
UK [ˈmɜ:sənəri]
How to pronounce mercenary in American English:
US [ˈmɜrsəneri]
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- Noun:
- a person hired to fight for another country than their own
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- Adjective:
- marked by materialism
- used of soldiers hired by a foreign army
- profit oriented
Word Origin
- mercenary (n.)
- late 14c., "one who works only for hire," from Old French mercenaire "mercenary, hireling" (13c.) and directly from Latin mercenarius "one who does anything for pay," literally "hired, paid," from merces (genitive mercedis) "pay, reward, wages," from merx (see market (n.)).
- mercenary (adj.)
- 1530s, from mercenary (n.), or in part from Latin mercenarius "hired, paid, serving for pay."
Example
- 1. But in other areas the state looks more mercenary .
- 2. For a full minute , the mercenary couldn 't speak .
- 3. Hirst is a former soldier traumatised during a stint working as a mercenary in yugoslavia .
- 4. Exasperated marketers argue that confronted with such mercenary consumption patterns , they cannot understand their core markets .
- 5. Doctors are under intense pressure to generate extra income for their hospitals not to mention themselves leading patients to suspect them of practising mercenary medicine .