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Militate   /mˈɪlɪtˌeɪt/   Listen
Militate

verb
(past & past part. militated; pres. part. militating)
1.
Have force or influence; bring about an effect or change.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Militate" Quotes from Famous Books



... zenith of a given place, it is necessary that the place should not exceed in latitude the declination of the luminary; in other words, it must be comprised within the degrees 0@ and 28@ of lat. N. or S. In every other spot the fire must necessarily be oblique, which would seriously militate against the success of ...
— Jules Verne's Classic Books • Jules Verne

... was born, the Doctor and the nurse, who knew his views on the subject, held back from the mother for a little the knowledge of the sex. Dame Norman was so weak that the Doctor feared lest anxiety as to how her husband would bear the disappointment, might militate against her. Therefore the Doctor sought the Squire in his study, and went resolutely at ...
— The Man • Bram Stoker

... with Kant this scepticism was not the gist of his philosophy. It was urged rather as the basis of the unconditioned character which he proposed to assert for the practical reason. Kant's scepticism is therefore very different from that of Hume. It does not militate against the profoundest religious conviction. Yet it prepared the way for some of the just ...
— Edward Caldwell Moore - Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant • Edward Moore

... more reasonable to suppose that the dog knew that she had given birth to six young ones, and that she had counted them when they had been removed to their new home. Again, it is a well-known fact that a dog can retain only one scent at a time; hence, this fact alone would militate somewhat against the idea that the sense of smell was the detecting agent in this case. Nor could it have been the sense of touch; the mother could not have possibly familiarized herself with the individual form of each puppy in so short space of time. It is folly to suppose ...
— The Dawn of Reason - or, Mental Traits in the Lower Animals • James Weir

... by points of your bayonets; but to effect this, a great many must be put to death and numerous cruelties must be committed, which we do not find to have been the practice of the whites; besides, that this would militate against the very principle which is professed by those who wish to bring about ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Vol. I. Jan. 1916 • Various

... may be added another, also mentioned by Lord Bacon — a misdirected zeal in matters of religion, which induces so many to decry a newly-discovered truth, because the Divine records contain no allusion to it, or because, at first sight, it appears to militate, not against religion, but against some obscure passage which has never been fairly interpreted. The old woman in the story could not believe that there was such a creature as a flying-fish, because her Bible did not tell her so, but she believed that her son had drawn up the golden and ...
— Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions - Vol. I • Charles Mackay

... as they militate against the generally-received opinion that the disease is caused by drinking snow-water; an opinion which seems to have originated from bronchocele being ...
— Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the Years 1819-20-21-22, Volume 1 • John Franklin

... you are uncertain? Do you take it for granted that these things will "get by" or that they never will be noticed? Again you are shifting the burden, expecting that someone will do the work you should have done. That carelessness will militate against you to prevent your elevation to an executive position. The boss cannot be careless and hold the respect of ...
— Cape Cod and All the Pilgrim Land, June 1922, Volume 6, Number 4 • Various

... of a well-known passage in his short Epistle de secretis operibus artis et naturae et de militate magiae, c. iv. (ed. Brewer, p. 533), in which he is said to PREDICT inventions which have been realised in the locomotives, steam navigation, and aeroplanes of modern times. But Bacon predicts nothing. He is showing that science can invent curious and, to the vulgar, ...
— The Idea of Progress - An Inquiry Into Its Origin And Growth • J. B. Bury

... statement of Blackstone, because the latter clause may seem to militate with the idea, which the former clause corroborates, viz., that at the time of Magna Carta, fines were the usual punishment of offenses. But I think there is no probability that a law so unreasonable in itself, (unreasonable even after making all allowance for the ...
— An Essay on the Trial By Jury • Lysander Spooner

... is added to the Mosaic account of the peopling of the earth. That account will, I doubt not, stand the test of the most learned and rigorous investigation. Indeed, I have long been convinced, after the closest meditation of which I am capable, that sound philosophy and genuine revelation never militate against each other. The rational friends of religion are so far from dreading the spirit of inquiry, that they wish for nothing more than a candid, calm, and impartial examination of the subject according to all the lights which the improved reason and the ...
— Narrative of the Voyages Round The World, • A. Kippis

... whole chapter, and a very remarkable one, which appears at first sight to militate against my belief—a chapter "showing that France was the country in which men had become ...
— The Ancien Regime • Charles Kingsley

... foresee that the continually progressive knowledge that man would gain by the aid of science, of the power and wisdom of God, manifested in the structure of the universe, and in all the works of creation, would militate against, and call into question, the truth of their system of faith; and therefore it became necessary to their purpose to cut learning down to a size less dangerous to their project, and this they effected by restricting the idea of learning ...
— The Writings Of Thomas Paine, Complete - With Index to Volumes I - IV • Thomas Paine

... employment of an equal number of stevedores at forty cents an hour; but Mr. Murphy, out of his profound experience, advised against this course, as tending to spread the news of the Retriever's misfortune and militate against securing a crew when the vessel should be loaded and lying in the stream ready for sea. Men employed now, he explained, would only desert. The thing to do was to let a Seattle crimp furnish the crew, sign them on before ...
— Cappy Ricks • Peter B. Kyne

... surface. In specially directing my attention to this moot point, whilst engaged in investigations of fossil remains, I was led to recognise one cause of extinction as being due to defeat in the contest which the individual of each species had to maintain against the surrounding agencies which might militate against its existence. This principle has received a large and most instructive accession of illustrations from the labours of Charles Darwin; but he aims to apply it not only to the extinction but to the origin ...
— The World's Greatest Books - Volume 15 - Science • Various

... rather as an example of the rate of natural increase that may be expected of a criminal family, we will examine and compare the conditions of life existing among the "Jukes" and the criminal that we have to deal with and thus discover features among the latter which militate against a large birth-rate; but which are not ...
— A Plea for the Criminal • James Leslie Allan Kayll

... he knows no mathematics; nor is his doubtful health suited to that career. He would have to study two years more for the navy, and four if he were to be an engineer; however, the ceaseless occupation of this arm of the service would be more than his strength could endure. Similar reasons militate against the artillery. There remains, therefore, only the infantry. "Good. I see. He wants to be all day idle, he wants to march the streets all day, and besides, what is a slim infantry office? A poor thing, three quarters of the time; and that, neither my dear father nor you, ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. I. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane

... always, the second year after the sowing. If cut for hay before coming into bloom, it will grow up again and bear seed profusely. This would seem preferable on strong soils, as it would prevent that rankness in growth which would militate against abundant seed production, and which would add much to the ...
— Clovers and How to Grow Them • Thomas Shaw

... American heiresses and European peers do not militate seriously against the above view of American marriage. It cannot be sufficiently emphasised that the doings of a few wealthy people in New York are not characteristic of American civilisation. The New York Times ...
— The Land of Contrasts - A Briton's View of His American Kin • James Fullarton Muirhead

... philosophical of human beings you could find in London, Paris, Berlin, New York, or even Boston, and place them as citizens in the beatified community, my belief is, that in less than a year they would either die of ennui, or attempt some revolution by which they would militate against the good of the community, and be burnt into cinders at the ...
— The Coming Race • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... recorded in the previous paragraph, have alleged that the system will so favour the representation of localities that no one but a local candidate will ever have any chance of success. The conclusion is drawn that proportional representation will militate against the return of eminent politicians, and is, for this reason, undesirable. But the facts cited as to Belgium bear no such interpretation. It is true that under all electoral systems the local candidate ...
— Proportional Representation - A Study in Methods of Election • John H. Humphreys

... and avowed political principles; that in all matters respecting the Household and their private feelings that the smallest hint sufficed to guide him, as he would not give way to any party feeling or job which should in any way militate against Her Majesty or His Royal Highness's comfort; that he wished particularly that it should be known that he never had a thought of riding roughshod over Her Majesty's wishes; that if you would ...
— The Letters of Queen Victoria, Volume 1 (of 3), 1837-1843) • Queen Victoria

... an agreeable enterprise. We suspend the sword of Damocles above his head and demand from him such answers as will fill the measure of our preconceived notions. He may know more of the subject, in reality, than the teacher, but this will not avail. In fact, this may militate against him. She demands to know what the book says, with small concern for his own knowledge of the subject. We proclaim loudly that we must encourage the open mind, and then by our witness-stand ordeal forestall the ...
— The Vitalized School • Francis B. Pearson

... we take the Revelation of St. John, too, as having been written at Ephesus, this will accord well with the use made of Theodotion's version of Daniel in that book. Or if Theodotion made use, in whole or in part, of some previous version, as seems certain, this fact would not at all militate against St. John at Ephesus having also made use of the same earlier version. And it is quite possible that this version may have been of Alexandrian origin, although worked up ...
— The Three Additions to Daniel, A Study • William Heaford Daubney

... Satyadapi hitam vadet is frequently misunderstood. The scriptures do not say that truth should be sacrificed in view of what is beneficial, for such view will militate with the saying that there is nothing higher than truth. The saying has reference to those exceptional instances where truth becomes a source of positive harm. The story of the Rishi who spoke the truth respecting the place where certain travellers ...
— The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 - Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 • Unknown

... asked, are all the ingredients just mentioned necessary in order to produce the wourali poison? Though our opinions and conjectures may militate against the absolute necessity of some of them, still it would be hardly fair to pronounce them added by the hand of superstition till proof positive can ...
— Wanderings In South America • Charles Waterton

... temper: then you have an inestimable advantage; for he will set a high value upon a thing for which you have none—time; he will acknowledge the force of your arguments merely from a dread of their length; he will yield to you in trifles, particularly in trifles which do not militate against his authority; not out of regard for you, but for his time; for what man can prevail upon himself to debate three hours about what could be as well ...
— Tales and Novels, Vol. IV • Maria Edgeworth

... local interests, and other causes, militate against a compliance? Whoever hopes the contrary must for ever be disappointed. The effect, sir, cannot be changed without a removal of the cause. Let each county in this commonwealth be supposed free and independent: let your revenues ...
— American Eloquence, Volume I. (of 4) - Studies In American Political History (1896) • Various

... island must be aware of the utter impossibility of introducing foreign wines with a view to exporting them again as native produce; for, in the first place, the whole of the inhabitants would be likely to resist such an attempt, from a conviction that the introduction would militate against their own interests, and from the obvious apprehension that the increased quantity as well as the inferior quality of the adulterated wines, would injure the character and reduce the ...
— A Voyage Round the World, Vol. I (of ?) • James Holman

... purple; the formidable support given to it by the nobility; the immense wealth which generations accumulate in the same dynasty; the fraternal protection which kings mutually enjoy, are considerable advantages which militate in favor of royal authority and make it almost boundless. These advantages show the need of giving a Repblican executive a greater degree of authority than that possessed by a ...
— Simon Bolivar, the Liberator • Guillermo A. Sherwell

... authority in Paris, 'that the redness was caused by the blow, since no blow can ever recall any thing like color to the cheeks of a corpse; beside, this blow was given on one cheek, and the other equally reddened.' Singular facts. Do they not militate against certain theories of 'nervous sensation' recently promulgated in our philosophical circles? . . . DOESN'T it sicken you, reader, to hear a young lady use that common but horrid commercial metaphor, 'first-rate?' 'How did you like CASTELLAN, last evening, Miss HUGGINS?' ...
— Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844 - Volume 23, Number 3 • Various

... other arguments that could be adduced against this reasoning they declared to be honorable and full of generous sound, but difficult of execution. It would be more advisable to increase the power of the king in Europe, where the forces could attend to emergencies without the casualties that militate against them in outside seas and dominions. Each one of these arguments was enforced so minutely by the ministers of the treasury that this proposition merited consideration and examination. Had God ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XVI, 1609 • H.E. Blair

... West-Indies, and those of Europe. And how little the Soil or Climate hath influenced or caused their Courage to degenerate towards cowardize or baseness of mind. As if the very same Argument, deduced from the nature of that Climate, did not equally militate against the valour of our famous Bucaniers, and represent this to be of as ...
— The Pirates of Panama • A. O. (Alexandre Olivier) Exquemelin

... not indeed in a linear series, but in families or groups, bearing analogous relations to each other, and showing a general progress from the more simple to the more complex forms. Surely, these facts, so clearly explained by our author, instead of sustaining the corpuscular philosophy, directly militate with it, and afford the most satisfactory proof of the doctrine of the theist, and the theory of continuous divine agency. We have hardly ever met with a book that furnished more complete ...
— A Theory of Creation: A Review of 'Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation' • Francis Bowen

... found himself, his friends did but justice to the Emperor in believing that if the occurrence were but recalled to the memory of Bonaparte, coupled with the knowledge that that once gallant midshipman was now a prisoner in his dominions, it would at least militate in favour of the captive. The information, of which Captain Fane himself would have scorned to make use, was therefore conveyed to Bonaparte, and not a moment did the Emperor hesitate. He at once ordered Captain Fane's unconditional ...
— The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope v. I. • A. M. W. Stirling (compiler)

... somewhat partial view of the character and merits of the historian, and canvasses, by anticipation, much of what has been urged against him by our more modern critics. But, as the weight of authorities already cited appears to militate against Burnet, I am induced to send you some of Bishop Nicolson's remarks, for the sake of those readers who may not have immediate access to them. I quote from his English Historical Library, 2nd edition, ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 69, February 22, 1851 • Various

... country there. In reading this section you must make allowances for my love of this sort of country, with its great forests and rivers and its animistic-minded inhabitants, and for my ability to be more comfortable there than in England. Your superior culture-instincts may militate against your enjoying West Africa, but if you go there you will find things ...
— Travels in West Africa • Mary H. Kingsley

... the law would protect the money from being clipped or mutilated or melted down. Once money, always money, and he who alters its money status we lock up as a felon. There is no legal reason and no moral reason and no market reason to militate against what I have outlined as a policy. Finance as a science is simpler than the science of soap-boiling, although the money-changers in the temple for their own selfish advantage ...
— The President - A novel • Alfred Henry Lewis

... not really militate against the ideoplastic theory," I retorted. "It is as easy to produce a phantom with hair plaited as it is to produce one with hair in curls. If it is a case of the modelling of the etheric vapor by the mind of the psychic, ...
— The Shadow World • Hamlin Garland

... protestation that the crumpet was spiritless and the muffin nothing but a human muffin, to lead him out against the enemies of the state. Your whole argument is wrong: the state has nothing whatever to do with theological errors which do not violate the common rules of morality, and militate against the fair power of the ruler: it leaves all these errors to you, and to such as you. You have every tenth porker in your parish for refuting them; and take care that you are vigilant ...
— Peter Plymley's Letters and Selected Essays • Sydney Smith

... Council, but as newly-appointed additional members of the official bureaucracy. There will doubtless in time be gradual sorting of politicians into definite groups, but there are two unbridgeable gulfs in the Indian social system which must always militate against the building up of a solid political party system: first, the gulf between Hindu and Moslem, which still yawns as wide as ever, and second, the gulf between the Brahman and the "untouchables" who, by the way, have found their fears ...
— Essays in Liberalism - Being the Lectures and Papers Which Were Delivered at the - Liberal Summer School at Oxford, 1922 • Various

... time, (which has been petitioned for in some instances,) or any other adequate immunity or compensation, granted to the brave defenders of their country's cause. But neither the adoption nor rejection of this proposition will in any manner affect, much less militate against, the act of congress, by which they have offered five years full pay, in lieu of the half pay for life, which had been before promised to the officers ...
— The Life of George Washington, Vol. 4 (of 5) • John Marshall

... be valuable as a gas coal and for local consumption, but the large proportions of water and of oxygen militate against its use as a steam producer, only 58 per cent. of it ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 401, September 8, 1883 • Various

... with a success which answered the expectation. There is little doubt that both the transfusion of blood, and engrafting or transplanting of teeth, are capable, with judgment and discrimination, of being made subservient in a variety of cases; though the chances of general success militate against these experiments; for it is the unalterable plan of nature to proceed gradually in her operations; all outrage and extravagance being at variance ...
— Thaumaturgia • An Oxonian



Words linked to "Militate" :   work, act upon, influence



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