mercenaries
n. plural-onlyn. soldiers who are paid to fight for a foreign country or group. They do it for the money rather than for political or personal reasons.
n. professional soldiers hired to serve in a foreign army or armed conflict. Often carries a pejorative connotation of prioritizing financial gain over national or ideological loyalty.
The king hired mercenaries to help defend his borders.
The rebel group relied on foreign mercenaries to train their recruits and lead the assault on the capital.
Historians often debate whether the use of mercenaries in the late Roman Empire was a symptom of military decline or a pragmatic response to shifting geopolitical realities.
Plural form of 'mercenary'; takes a plural verb. When used as a collective noun, it refers to the group as a whole.