Synonyms for mercenary
ˈmɜr səˌnɛr imer·ce·na·ry

WiktionaryRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. mercenaryadjective

   Synonyms:
   venal, greedy

2. mercenaryadjective

   motivated by private gain

   Synonyms:
   venal, greedy

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. mercenary

   An auxiliary is a person or thing that helps in a subordinate capacity. Allies unite as equals; auxiliaries are, at least technically, inferiors or subordinates. Yet the auxiliary is more than a mere assistant. The word is oftenest found in the plural, and in the military sense; auxiliaries are troops of one nation uniting with the armies, and acting under the orders, of another. Mercenaries serve only for pay; auxiliaries often for reasons of state, policy, or patriotism as well. Compare ACCESSORY; APPENDAGE.

   Synonyms:
   accessory, aid, ally, assistant, auxiliary, coadjutor, confederate, helper, promoter, subordinate

   Antonyms:
   antagonist, hinderer, opponent, opposer

   Preposition:
   The auxiliaries of the Romans; an auxiliary in a good cause; an auxiliary to learning.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenary

   Synonyms:
   sordid, venal, selfish, avaricious, griping

   Antonyms:
   liberal, generous, disinterested, profuse, prodigal

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenary, soldier of fortuneadjective

   a person hired to fight for another country than their own

   Synonyms:
   soldier of fortune

   Antonyms:
   unworldly, unpaid, noncommercial

2. materialistic, mercenary, worldly-mindedadjective

   marked by materialism

   Synonyms:
   bourgeois, conservative, mercantile, worldly-minded, free-lance(a), materialistic, freelance(a), mercenary(a), moneymaking(a)

   Antonyms:
   noncommercial, unworldly, unpaid

3. mercenary(a), free-lance(a), freelance(a)adjective

   serving for wages in a foreign army

   "mercenary killers"

   Antonyms:
   noncommercial, unpaid, unworldly

4. mercantile, mercenary, moneymaking(a)adjective

   profit oriented

   "a commercial book"; "preached a mercantile and militant patriotism"- John Buchan; "a mercenary enterprise"; "a moneymaking business"

   Antonyms:
   unpaid, unworldly, noncommercial

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenaryadjective

   Synonyms:
   venal, hired, hireling

2. mercenaryadjective

   Synonyms:
   sordid, avaricious, covetous, penurious, parsimonious, stingy, miserly, niggardly, mean, selfish, close, close-fisted

3. mercenarynoun

   Synonyms:
   hireling

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercenaryadjective

   Synonyms:
   hired, hireling, purchased, greedy, sordid, avaricious, grasping

2. mercenarynoun

   Synonyms:
   hireling

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "mercenary":

   mercenaries, gunfighter, merc, mercenarism, henchman

Suggested Resources

1. mercenary

   Song lyrics by mercenary -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by mercenary on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce mercenary?

How to say mercenary in sign language?

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

1. [["1581","1"],["1587","2"],["1588","1"],["1620","1"],["1630","2"],["1631","1"],["1635","1"],["1637","12"],["1638","1"],["1641","1"],["1643","1"],["1645","2"],["1648","1"],["1649","4"],["1650","1"],["1653","2"],["1654","1"],["1656","6"],["1658","4"],["1659","6"],["1660","2"],["1661","4"],["1662","3"],["1663","4"],["1665","1"],["1667","3"],["1668","5"],["1670","2"],["1673","7"],["1675","10"],["1676","1"],["1677","8"],["1678","6"],["1679","3"],["1680","3"],["1681","6"],["1682","5"],["1683","5"],["1684","2"],["1685","5"],["1686","3"],["1687","2"],["1688","9"],["1689","6"],["1690","1"],["1692","1"],["1694","3"],["1697","4"],["1698","14"],["1699","17"],["1700","42"],["1701","11"],["1702","17"],["1703","39"],["1704","6"],["1705","19"],["1706","72"],["1707","46"],["1708","7"],["1709","21"],["1710","21"],["1711","32"],["1712","9"],["1713","14"],["1714","29"],["1715","18"],["1716","15"],["1717","11"],["1718","5"],["1719","5"],["1720","33"],["1721","23"],["1722","43"],["1723","25"],["1724","47"],["1725","38"],["1726","51"],["1727","74"],["1728","30"],["1729","47"],["1730","35"],["1731","61"],["1732","103"],["1733","21"],["1734","42"],["1735","47"],["1736","41"],["1737","135"],["1738","51"],["1739","38"],["1740","33"],["1741","58"],["1742","62"],["1743","40"],["1744","66"],["1745","28"],["1746","29"],["1747","115"],["1748","85"],["1749","58"],["1750","121"],["1751","154"],["1752","114"],["1753","93"],["1754","143"],["1755","117"],["1756","88"],["1757","67"],["1758","136"],["1759","86"],["1760","85"],["1761","102"],["1762","69"],["1763","103"],["1764","132"],["1765","88"],["1766","131"],["1767","131"],["1768","226"],["1769","153"],["1770","154"],["1771","174"],["1772","160"],["1773","132"],["1774","132"],["1775","162"],["1776","125"],["1777","174"],["1778","154"],["1779","96"],["1780","84"],["1781","125"],["1782","150"],["1783","106"],["1784","135"],["1785","119"],["1786","224"],["1787","289"],["1788","280"],["1789","343"],["1790","285"],["1791","193"],["1792","235"],["1793","271"],["1794","230"],["1795","221"],["1796","325"],["1797","298"],["1798","285"],["1799","193"],["1800","332"],["1801","616"],["1802","520"],["1803","683"],["1804","756"],["1805","619"],["1806","670"],["1807","472"],["1808","702"],["1809","758"],["1810","764"],["1811","818"],["1812","971"],["1813","829"],["1814","1056"],["1815","560"],["1816","721"],["1817","708"],["1818","919"],["1819","880"],["1820","1185"],["1821","911"],["1822","1286"],["1823","1924"],["1824","1534"],["1825","1558"],["1826","1247"],["1827","1180"],["1828","1082"],["1829","1618"],["1830","1376"],["1831","1072"],["1832","1134"],["1833","1262"],["1834","1286"],["1835","1392"],["1836","1514"],["1837","1396"],["1838","1546"],["1839","1527"],["1840","1556"],["1841","1625"],["1842","1359"],["1843","1298"],["1844","1862"],["1845","1844"],["1846","1690"],["1847","1502"],["1848","1713"],["1849","1528"],["1850","1753"],["1851","1911"],["1852","2254"],["1853","2564"],["1854","2657"],["1855","2049"],["1856","2449"],["1857","2207"],["1858","1894"],["1859","2139"],["1860","2175"],["1861","1637"],["1862","1165"],["1863","1462"],["1864","1565"],["1865","1525"],["1866","1553"],["1867","1430"],["1868","1537"],["1869","1665"],["1870","1388"],["1871","1373"],["1872","1508"],["1873","1477"],["1874","1708"],["1875","1700"],["1876","1770"],["1877","2052"],["1878","1530"],["1879","1554"],["1880","2434"],["1881","1744"],["1882","2031"],["1883","2273"],["1884","2239"],["1885","2212"],["1886","1753"],["1887","2121"],["1888","1773"],["1889","1731"],["1890","2017"],["1891","2219"],["1892","2386"],["1893","2179"],["1894","2034"],["1895","2064"],["1896","2651"],["1897","2428"],["1898","2652"],["1899","3426"],["1900","3618"],["1901","3453"],["1902","3405"],["1903","2546"],["1904","2763"],["1905","2856"],["1906","3073"],["1907","3053"],["1908","2777"],["1909","2428"],["1910","2835"],["1911","2467"],["1912","2507"],["1913","2493"],["1914","2333"],["1915","2191"],["1916","2047"],["1917","1955"],["1918","1703"],["1919","1720"],["1920","2133"],["1921","1688"],["1922","1997"],["1923","1933"],["1924","1983"],["1925","1696"],["1926","1719"],["1927","2108"],["1928","2468"],["1929","2183"],["1930","2058"],["1931","1931"],["1932","2127"],["1933","1745"],["1934","2086"],["1935","2276"],["1936","2129"],["1937","2253"],["1938","2032"],["1939","2145"],["1940","1622"],["1941","1634"],["1942","1367"],["1943","1160"],["1944","1014"],["1945","1236"],["1946","1538"],["1947","1965"],["1948","2014"],["1949","1943"],["1950","2149"],["1951","2320"],["1952","2232"],["1953","2014"],["1954","2141"],["1955","2140"],["1956","2307"],["1957","2707"],["1958","2679"],["1959","2755"],["1960","3273"],["1961","3448"],["1962","4061"],["1963","4284"],["1964","4565"],["1965","5089"],["1966","4881"],["1967","5634"],["1968","6526"],["1969","6158"],["1970","6479"],["1971","5917"],["1972","5709"],["1973","5155"],["1974","5186"],["1975","5430"],["1976","5258"],["1977","5052"],["1978","5215"],["1979","5451"],["1980","5660"],["1981","5721"],["1982","5677"],["1983","6003"],["1984","6176"],["1985","7308"],["1986","7435"],["1987","8300"],["1988","6923"],["1989","7920"],["1990","7771"],["1991","7215"],["1992","9161"],["1993","8464"],["1994","9029"],["1995","9070"],["1996","9763"],["1997","10582"],["1998","11826"],["1999","12090"],["2000","14393"],["2001","14757"],["2002","16396"],["2003","17123"],["2004","20375"],["2005","19275"],["2006","22368"],["2007","22690"],["2008","35341"]]

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use mercenary in a sentence?

1. James Scott:

   A Nation State or Cyber-Mercenary won’t hack e-voting machines one by one. This takes too long and will have minimal impact. Instead, they’ll take an easier approach like spear phishing the manufacturer with malware and poison the voting machine update pre-election and allow the manufacturer to update each individual machine with a self-deleting payload that will target the tabulation process.

2. Scott Morrison:

   When they are using people's personal information, details about their homes, it's not just their farm, it's their home, it's where their kids live and grow up, they are being targeted in the most mercenary way by an organisation that can only think of itself and not think to the real damage that is being done to the livelihoods of these hard-working Australians.

3. Teresa Cheng:

   The fact that such a very high-ranking official has uttered words such as ‘mercenary’ is, with respect, disgraceful to such a reputable counsel.

4. Joseph Pulitzer:

   An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself.

5. Hans Konig:

   For all the gold and silver stolen and shipped to Spain did not make the Spanish people richer. It gave their kings an edge in the balance of power for a time, a chance to hire more mercenary soldiers for their wars. They ended up losing those wars anyway, and all that was left was a deadly inflation, a starving population, the rich richer, the poor poorer, and a ruined peasant class.