Difference between SOLDIER and MILITANT

Militant can sometimes be used interchangeably with soldier, but militant usually refers to persons who do not belong to an established military and who use violence to further a cause. Their cause is usually political.

Soldier: a person who serves in an army

Militant: a confrontational person

Hi,

The term 'miltant' seems to be preferred by the Coaltion the'War against terror', in order to avoid giving the so-called enemy the status of being called 'soldiers'. Soldiers, for example, would be protected by the Geneva Conventions, but arguably not militants.

Another interesting term in the context of Iraq is 'insurgent', which seems to be used these days in preference to

Even with the current era of interesting (and frankly, embarrassing) Bush-created euphemisms aside, I still think that militant and soldier cannot be interchangeable.

Thank you so much Clive and every body else for telling me the difference precisely.

The previous posts have all been good. I would offer this: all (most?) soldiers are militant, but not all militants are soldiers.

soldier: paid or obliged to fight for a cause
militant: willingly promoting& defending a cause

Fantastic and completely clear and to the point explanation! So thank you!