Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

warlord

/ˈwɔɹlɔɹd/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.10 in modern English

Syllables: war-lord
IPA: /ˈwɔɹlɔɹd/

11

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A military commander or bandit leader wielding civilian power in an area where the government is weak.

Example Sentences

"Afghanistan's first major battle of the post-Taliban era ended tonight when the soldiers of the warlord besieging this strategic city south of Kabul ran out of ammunition and fled the battlefront in clouds of dust, cursing the warlord to his face for his callousness in committing them to a fight they were doomed to lose."
"“I’m not a warlord … I’m a liberator of the people,” he said. That’s the problem: So are they all. More than four million people have died in Congo’s wars since 1998, making it the most lethal conflict since World War II."

Etymology

From war + lord.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈwɔɹlɔɹd/
British English: /ˈwɔːlɔːd/

Inflected Forms

warlords (plural) war lord (alternative) war-lord (alternative)

Derived Forms

warlording warlordism warlordship

Frequently Paired Words

militia

Questions

How do you pronounce warlord?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈwɔɹlɔɹd/.
What does warlord mean?: A military commander or bandit leader wielding civilian power in an area where the government is weak.
Where does warlord come from?: From war + lord.

How to pronounce warlord

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “warlord”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈwɔɹlɔɹd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “warlord”.
Repeat and practice — Say “warlord” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.