mercenary meaning

Noun: mercenary  'mursu`neree [N. Amer], mursun(u)ree [Brit]

1. A person hired to fight for another country than their own
   - soldier of fortune

Adjective: mercenary  'mursu`neree [N. Amer], mursun(u)ree [Brit]

1. Marked by materialism
   - materialistic, worldly-minded 
2. Serving for wages in a foreign army
   "mercenary killers"
   - free-lance, freelance 
3. Profit oriented
   "a mercenary enterprise"
   - mercantile, moneymaking

Derived forms: mercenaries

See also: commercial, paid, secular, temporal, worldly

Type of: adventurer, venturer

Encyclopedia: Mercenary

[Law]
n. A person who is paid to serve with armed forces other than those of the state of which he is a national. British officers undertaking such service (e.g.in Oman) were commonly known as contract officers. See alsoFOREIGN ENLISTMENT.

Examples

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1. he will tell you i am mercenary.
2. besides, her object was not purely mercenary.
3. the local population is kept under by a brutal army of mercenaries.
4. this put her affection out of suspicion of mercenary ends.
5. the doctor thought it very vulgar to be precipitate in accusing people of mercenary motives.