counterinsurgency
noun
coun·ter·in·sur·gen·cy
ˌkau̇n-tər-in-ˈsər-jən(t)-sē 
: organized military activity designed to combat insurgency
Examples of counterinsurgency in a Sentence
The military has launched a counterinsurgency.
Recent Examples on the Web
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
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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
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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