mercenary

«mercenary» in Mova's school dictionary: A soldier who fights for any country or group that pays… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a mercenary, mercenaries); adjective (mercenary)

meaning for a pupil

1) A soldier who fights for any country or group that pays them, not for their own country. tree →

2) (adjective) Interested only in money, not in being kind or fair. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history lessons and stories: kings hired mercenaries to fight their wars. In everyday talk, calling someone mercenary means they only care about money — a criticism. Phrases: hire mercenaries, mercenary army, mercenary attitude.

examples

• The king paid mercenaries to defend the castle. tree →
• The mercenaries changed sides when offered more gold. tree →
• He only helps if he gets paid — so mercenary! tree →
• The story's villain led a mercenary army. tree →
• A mercenary fights for money, not for loyalty. tree →
• Don't be mercenary; help your friend for free. tree →
• German mercenaries, in the Neapolitan service, kept guard, played cards, and diced; and a troop of strangers from beyond the mountains came into the town, accompanied by a sentry. tree →

note

Plural mercenaries (y to ies). As an adjective it is negative (disapproving). Similar: hired soldier; adjective similar: greedy.

In the corpora

• "Private military contractor" is the official name for a hired soldier, a mercenary.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «mercenary» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.