"rearguard action" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "rearguard",
        "3": "action"
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      "expansion": "rearguard + action",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "rearguard + action",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "rearguard actions",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "rearguard action (plural rearguard actions)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Military",
          "orig": "en:Military",
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            "Society",
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      ],
      "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": [
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          "_dis": "52 48",
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "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, 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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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"
}

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    "English countable nouns",
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    "English nouns"
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        "2": "rearguard",
        "3": "action"
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      "expansion": "rearguard + action",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "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, 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": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "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"
}