counterinsurgency

noun

coun·​ter·​in·​sur·​gen·​cy ˌkau̇n-tər-in-ˈsər-jən(t)-sē How to pronounce counterinsurgency (audio)
: organized military activity designed to combat insurgency
counterinsurgent noun

Examples of counterinsurgency in a Sentence

The military has launched a counterinsurgency.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In 1948, for example, the Truman administration threatened to withdraw Marshall Plan aid from the Netherlands unless the Dutch abandoned their bloody counterinsurgency war against the Indonesian nationalist movement. Nicholas Mulder, Foreign Affairs, 6 Mar. 2025 Kennedy used foreign aid to wage a bloody counterinsurgency in South Vietnam; Carter put human rights at the center of his policy and then toasted the repressive shah of Iran; Bush, claiming to be spreading democracy to the Middle East, seriously damaged America’s global legitimacy. George Packer, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2025 Spain was waging such a ruthless counterinsurgency in Cuba and Puerto Rico that the United States invoked human rights as one of the justifications for going in. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 28 Jan. 2025 The coups failed, but when the military demanded harsher counterinsurgency measures and impunity for its Marcos-era abuses, the Aquino government acquiesced. Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025 See All Example Sentences for counterinsurgency

Word History

First Known Use

1962, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of counterinsurgency was in 1962

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Cite this Entry

“Counterinsurgency.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterinsurgency. Accessed 21 Mar. 2025.

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