"rearguard action" meaning in All languages combined

See rearguard action on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: rearguard actions [plural]
Etymology: From rearguard + action. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|rearguard|action}} rearguard + action Head templates: {{en-noun}} rearguard action (plural rearguard actions)
  1. (military) An offensive action by a rearguard. Categories (topical): Military Related terms: fight a losing battle
    Sense id: en-rearguard_action-en-noun-k0xyXETq Topics: government, military, politics, war
  2. (figuratively) A desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable. Tags: figuratively Translations (desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable): perääntymistaistelu (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-rearguard_action-en-noun-DKLgluST Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 35 65 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 20 80 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 72 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 12 88 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 24 76 Disambiguation of 'desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable': 1 99

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rearguard",
        "3": "action"
      },
      "expansion": "rearguard + action",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From rearguard + action.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rearguard actions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "rearguard action (plural rearguard actions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Military",
          "orig": "en:Military",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An offensive action by a rearguard."
      ],
      "id": "en-rearguard_action-en-noun-k0xyXETq",
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "offensive",
          "offensive"
        ],
        [
          "rearguard",
          "rearguard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military) An offensive action by a rearguard."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "word": "fight a losing battle"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "35 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "20 80",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 72",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "12 88",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "24 76",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "to fight a rearguard action",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Peter R. Newman, “New English”, in Companion to Irish History, 1603–1921, Oxford: Facts On File, →ISBN, page 132:",
          "text": "The New English came to control Ireland — their ultimate expression was the powerful ascendancy which enjoyed exclusive political power in the country for more than a century, and which fought a dogged rearguard action against diminution of its power during the nineteenth century.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable."
      ],
      "id": "en-rearguard_action-en-noun-DKLgluST",
      "links": [
        [
          "desperate",
          "desperate"
        ],
        [
          "forestall",
          "forestall"
        ],
        [
          "inevitable",
          "inevitable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 99",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable",
          "word": "perääntymistaistelu"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "rearguard action"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rearguard",
        "3": "action"
      },
      "expansion": "rearguard + action",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From rearguard + action.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rearguard actions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "rearguard action (plural rearguard actions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "fight a losing battle"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Military"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An offensive action by a rearguard."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "offensive",
          "offensive"
        ],
        [
          "rearguard",
          "rearguard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military) An offensive action by a rearguard."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "to fight a rearguard action",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991, Peter R. Newman, “New English”, in Companion to Irish History, 1603–1921, Oxford: Facts On File, →ISBN, page 132:",
          "text": "The New English came to control Ireland — their ultimate expression was the powerful ascendancy which enjoyed exclusive political power in the country for more than a century, and which fought a dogged rearguard action against diminution of its power during the nineteenth century.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "desperate",
          "desperate"
        ],
        [
          "forestall",
          "forestall"
        ],
        [
          "inevitable",
          "inevitable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) A desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "desperate attempt to forestall the inevitable",
      "word": "perääntymistaistelu"
    }
  ],
  "word": "rearguard action"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.