Recent Examples on the Web

While mitigate has an undercurrent of facilitation, militate is more of a suppressive, authoritarian thing. Arunabh Saikia, Quartz India, "Community participation—not lockdowns—is key to fighting coronavirus in India," 23 Mar. 2020

New infectious diseases come out of the blue, each with its own idiosyncrasies that militate against detailed advance planning. Robert Dingwall, Wired, "We Should Deescalate the War on the Coronavirus," 29 Jan. 2020

Being both a national memorial and a vast entertainment complex — in addition to a home for other performing arts — militates against sleeker definition. Peter Marks, Washington Post, "How the Kennedy Center’s theater chief sniffs out Broadway-worthy winners," 4 Oct. 2019

And a crucial aspect of his world view militates against monopolistic power. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, "Nietzsche’s Eternal Return," 7 Oct. 2019

The work of every serious social scientist militated against it. Zadie Smith, The New Yorker, "Darryl Pinckney’s Intimate Study of Black History," 26 Nov. 2019

This militates against the build-up of external debts and internal pressures. The Economist, "The deep appeal of emerging markets is their lack of surface appeal," 26 Oct. 2019

The city council has long militated for a standard design, rather than having each new station designed from scratch. al, "Mobile firefighters start demolition on their own station," 14 Aug. 2019

The long-term trends among Democrats also militate against a deal. Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review, "What’s Next for the GOP on Immigration?," 12 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'militate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.