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martial

adj
/ˈmɑːʃəl/UK/ˈmɑɹʃəl/US

Etymology

From Middle English martial, marcial, mercial, mercialle (“relating to war, warlike; military; for use in fighting or warfare; brave, hardy; combative, fierce; ruthless, vicious; domineering, overbearing”), from Middle French martial (modern French martial (“martial”)), or directly from its etymon Latin mārtiālis (“of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”), from Mārtius (“of or pertaining to Mars”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship). The English word is cognate with Italian marziale (“martial”), Portuguese marcial (“martial”), Spanish marcial (“martial”).

  1. derived from mārtiālis — “of or pertaining to Mars, the Roman god of war”
  2. derived from martial
  3. inherited from martial

Definitions

  1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of war

    Of, relating to, or suggestive of war; warlike.

    • The captaine he, which climbes for high advaunce, / By piercing blade imbrude in enimies blood, / In martiall ſhewes who formoſt leades the daunce, [...]
    • But peaceful Kings, o'r martial people ſet, / Each others poize and counter-ballance are.

  2. Connected with or relating to armed forces or the profession of arms or military life.

  3. Characteristic of or befitting a warrior

    Characteristic of or befitting a warrior; having a military bearing; soldierly.

    • With Marſhall ſtalke he paſſed through our watch.
    • His Martial Valour Flanders will confeſs; / And France Regrets his Managing the Peace. / Faithful to England’s Intereſt and her King: / The greateſt Reaſon of our Murmuring.
    • Ah!—each the pride of Iſrael's martial train, / Now breathleſs, on their native mountains ſlain!
  4. ›+ 11 more definitions

    1. Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mars.

      • Venus was placed below Mars; that is, the sensual passion was subjected to martial ardour.

    2. Of or relating to the planet Mars

      Of or relating to the planet Mars; Martian.

      • [R]ound about the plain / All hid with slaughter'd carcasses, yet still did hotly reign / The martial planet; [...]
      • No naturalist can watch winter and summer come and go on the opposite hemispheres of the martial planet, without feeling that life must have come into being where all the machinery of life is in such perfect working.

    3. Containing, or relating to, iron (which was symbolically associated with the planet Mars…

      Containing, or relating to, iron (which was symbolically associated with the planet Mars by alchemists); chalybeate, ferric, ferrous.

      • martial preparations martial flowers (a reddish crystalline salt of iron)
      • This dephlogisticated martial vitriol, as M. [Torbern] Bergman calls it, is often found in nature, particularly in the ores of alum.

    4. A soldier, a warrior.

    5. A celestial object under the astrological influence of the planet Mars.

    6. Synonym of Martian (“inhabitant of the planet Mars”).

      • The Martials, if there be Martials in any sense in which there are terrestrials on our own planet, may have no eyes at all; their whole civilisation, if they have say, may depend on senses of which we have absolutely no trace, [...]

    7. A male given name from Latin, narrowly applied to certain historic persons (but some of…

      A male given name from Latin, narrowly applied to certain historic persons (but some of its foreign cognates are modern given names).

      • Saint Martial was the first bishop of Limoges, circa 250

    8. An Anglicized cognomen or given name of the Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis, born in…

      An Anglicized cognomen or given name of the Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis, born in Spain in the first century AD and noted for his epigrams.

    9. Alternative letter-case form of martial (“of or relating to the planet Mars”).

    10. Alternative letter-case form of Containing, or relating to, iron

    11. Alternative letter-case form of martial (“inhabitant of the planet Mars

      Alternative letter-case form of martial (“inhabitant of the planet Mars; Martian”).

      • The Martials, if there be Martials in any sense in which there are terrestrials on our own planet, may have no eyes at all; their whole civilisation, if they have say, may depend on senses of which we have absolutely no trace, […]

The neighborhood

Derived

antimartial, court martial, immartial, martial art, martial artist, martial eagle, martialism, martialist, martiality, martialize, martial law, martially, martialness, nonmartial, unmartial

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at martial. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01martial02profession03professional04prostitute05gain06competition07prize08belligerent09warlike

A definitional loop anchored at martial. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at martial

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA