guerrilla warfare: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples

While tactics may overlap, 'guerrilla warfare' is a military strategy typically aimed at military or strategic targets within a wider political conflict. 'Terrorism' primarily aims to instill fear in a civilian population to achieve political ends, often targeting civilians directly. The terms are politically charged and their application is often contested.

In its literal military sense, it is descriptively neutral but context-dependent (e.g., viewed positively as a fight for liberation, negatively as insurgency). Its metaphorical uses in business ('guerrilla marketing') or activism often have a positive, clever, or resourceful connotation.

No. The root is military, but it's commonly used as a modifier to describe anything using unconventional, surprising, or subversive methods against a larger system (e.g., guerrilla gardening, guerrilla poetry, guerrilla filmmaking).

The most frequent error is misspelling it as 'gorilla warfare', confusing the military term with the great ape. Remember: 'Guerrilla' comes from the Spanish word 'guerra' (war).

A form of irregular warfare where small, mobile groups of combatants use tactics like ambushes, sabotage, and raids to fight a larger, less-mobile traditional military force.

Guerrilla warfare is usually formal, academic, journalistic, military in register.

Guerrilla warfare: in British English it is pronounced /ɡəˈrɪlə ˈwɔːfeə/, and in American English it is pronounced /ɡəˈrɪlə ˈwɔːrfer/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.