Phrase guide

martial law

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈmɑːʃəl lɔː/
  • US: /ˈmɑɹʃəl lɔ/
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈmɑ(ɹ)ʃəl lɑ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Rule by military authorities, especially when imposed on a civilian population in time of war or other crisis, or in an occupied territory.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the body of law imposed by the military over civilian affairs (usually in time of war or civil crisis); overrides civil law

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: law, jurisprudence

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

93 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: krygswet — rule by military authorities
  • Albanian: ligj ushtarak — rule by military authorities
  • Arabic: حُكْم عُرْفِيّ (ḥukm ʕurfiyy) — rule by military authorities
  • Armenian: ռազմական դրություն (ṙazmakan drutʻyun) — rule by military authorities
  • Asturian: llei marcial — rule by military authorities
  • Azerbaijani: hərbi vəziyyət — rule by military authorities
  • Bashkir: хәрби хәл (xərbi xəl) — rule by military authorities
  • Basque: gerra-lege — rule by military authorities
  • Belarusian: вае́ннае стано́вішча (vajénnaje stanóvišča) — rule by military authorities
  • Bengali: সামরিক শাসন (śamrik śaśon) — rule by military authorities
  • Bulgarian: вое́нно положе́ние (voénno položénie) — rule by military authorities
  • Burmese: စစ်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးအမိန့် (cacuphkyup-re:a.min.) — rule by military authorities
  • Catalan: llei marcial — rule by military authorities
  • Chinese Cantonese: 戒嚴 /戒严 (gaai3 jim4) — rule by military authorities
  • Chinese Cantonese: 戒嚴令 /戒严令 (gaai3 jim4 ling6) — rule by military authorities
  • Chinese Mandarin: 戒嚴 /戒严 (jièyán) — rule by military authorities
  • Chinese Mandarin: 戒嚴令 /戒严令 (jièyánlìng) — rule by military authorities
  • Czech: stanné právo — rule by military authorities
  • Danish: undtagelsestilstand — rule by military authorities
  • Danish: krigsretstilstand — rule by military authorities
  • Danish: krigsret — rule by military authorities
  • Dutch: krijgswet — rule by military authorities
  • Dutch: staat van beleg — rule by military authorities
  • Esperanto: militjuro — rule by military authorities
  • Estonian: sõjaseisukord — rule by military authorities
  • Estonian: kaitseseisukord — rule by military authorities
  • Finnish: poikkeustila — rule by military authorities
  • Finnish: sotatilalaki — rule by military authorities
  • French: loi martiale — rule by military authorities
  • Galician: lei marcial — rule by military authorities
  • Georgian: სამხედრო მდგომარეობა (samxedro mdgomareoba) — rule by military authorities
  • Georgian: სამხედრო კანონი (samxedro ḳanoni) — rule by military authorities
  • Georgian: სამხედრო სამართალი (samxedro samartali) — rule by military authorities
  • German: Kriegsrecht — rule by military authorities
  • German: Ausnahmezustand — rule by military authorities
  • Greek: στρατιωτικός νόμος (stratiotikós nómos) — rule by military authorities
  • Hebrew: מקטר צבאי (mishtar tsva'i) — rule by military authorities
  • Hebrew: ממשל צבאי — rule by military authorities
  • Hindi: सैनिक क़ानून (sainik qānūn) — rule by military authorities
  • Hungarian: statárium — rule by military authorities
  • Hungarian: rögtönítélő bíráskodás — rule by military authorities
  • Hungarian: rögtönbíráskodás — rule by military authorities
  • Icelandic: herlög — rule by military authorities
  • Ido: militala judicio — rule by military authorities
  • Indonesian: darurat militer — rule by military authorities
  • Italian: legge marziale — rule by military authorities
  • Japanese: 戒厳 (kaigen) — rule by military authorities
  • Japanese: 戒厳令 (kaigenrei) — rule by military authorities
  • Kazakh: соғыс күйі (soğys küiı) — rule by military authorities
  • Kazakh: соғыс жағдайы (soğys jağdaiy) — rule by military authorities
  • Khmer: យុទ្ធនីតិ (yutthĕəʼniiteʼ) — rule by military authorities
  • Khmer: អយ្យការសឹក (ʼayyĕəʼ kaa sək) — rule by military authorities
  • Khmer: ច្បាប់អាជ្ញាសឹក (cbap ʼaacñaa sək) — rule by military authorities
  • Korean: 계엄 (gyeeom) — rule by military authorities
  • Korean: 계엄령 (gyeeomnyeong) — rule by military authorities
  • Kumyk: дав гьал (daw hal) — rule by military authorities
  • Kyrgyz: согуштук абал (soguştuk abal) — rule by military authorities
  • Latin: lēx mīlitāris — rule by military authorities
  • Latvian: kara stāvoklis — rule by military authorities
  • Lithuanian: karo padėtis — rule by military authorities
  • Macedonian: воена состојба (voena sostojba) — rule by military authorities
  • Malay: undang-undang tentera — rule by military authorities
  • Malay: pemerintahan tentera — rule by military authorities
  • Norwegian Bokmål: unntakstilstand — rule by military authorities
  • Norwegian Bokmål: militær unntakstilstand — rule by military authorities
  • Norwegian Bokmål: krigsrett — rule by military authorities
  • Persian: حکومت نظامی (hokumat-e nezâmi) — rule by military authorities
  • Polish: stan wojenny — rule by military authorities
  • Portuguese: lei marcial — rule by military authorities
  • Romanian: lege marțială — rule by military authorities
  • Romanian: stare de război — rule by military authorities
  • Russian: вое́нное положе́ние (vojénnoje položénije) — rule by military authorities
  • Serbo-Croatian: ратно законодавство — rule by military authorities
  • Serbo-Croatian: ratno zakonodavstvo — rule by military authorities
  • Slovak: stanné právo — rule by military authorities
  • Slovak: štatárium — rule by military authorities
  • Slovene: vojno stanje — rule by military authorities
  • Spanish: ley marcial — rule by military authorities
  • Spanish: estado de excepción — rule by military authorities
  • Swedish: krigslagar — rule by military authorities
  • Swedish: krigsrätt — rule by military authorities
  • Swedish: krigstillstånd — rule by military authorities
  • Swedish: undantagstillstånd — rule by military authorities
  • Tagalog: batas militar — rule by military authorities
  • Tajik: ҳолати ҳарбӣ (holat-i harbi) — rule by military authorities
  • Tajik: вазъияти низомӣ (vaz'iyat-i nizomi) — rule by military authorities
  • Thai: กฎอัยการศึก (gòt-ai-yá-gaan-sʉ̀k) — rule by military authorities
  • Turkish: sıkıyönetim — rule by military authorities
  • Ukrainian: воє́нний ста́н (vojénnyj stán) — rule by military authorities
  • Urdu: فوجی قانون (favjī qānūn) — rule by military authorities
  • Uzbek: harbiy holat — rule by military authorities
  • Vietnamese: giới nghiêm — rule by military authorities
  • Vietnamese: thiết quân luật — rule by military authorities