Idioms

militate against

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militate against

To have an active influence or effect against or in opposition to someone or something. This conviction will militate against your chances of getting hired in the future. Instead, the regulation has ended up militating against fostering the kind of young, motivated talent this industry so desperately needs.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

militate against something

[for something] to work against something. Everything you have said today militates against an early settlement to our disagreement. This really militates against my going to college.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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References in periodicals archive
"If the parties fail to hold talks in this process, they will be in a worse situation next year since time does not militate in favor of a solution.
Militate means to have an effect or influence on, to operate as a force for or against, as in 'His parole record militated in his favor' or 'His lack of polish militated against his advancement.' Mitigate means to soften, to assuage, to make more endurable, as in 'Her reputation for compassion mitigated the vehemence of her criticism.'"
In this way, patriotism seems to militate against seeing the other guy's point of view--a particularly dangerous approach for Americans blindsided by the hatred and resentment our country now confronts overseas.
Krugman, in his introduction, explains that "this book offers me an opportunity for a longer form of discussion that can't be squeezed into 735-word columns in The New York Times." Yes, for all its soap-box-derby freedoms, the constricted length of a newspaper column does indeed militate against complex analysis.
There are no doubt many forces in American society that militate against the practice of the Asian values that form the fabric of Vietnamese life.
Large, established firms sometimes applaud as groups they fund militate for red tape that may suffocate smaller, poorer competitors.
The prosecution stressed that "our existing laws and jurisprudence militate against the grant of the furlough prayed for."
She said: "I would strongly urge SMEs to review and potentially tighten their absence and sickness procedures to militate against the end of the relief scheme,.
Global Banking News-October 1, 2012--Miliband latest leader to militate for separation of banks(C)2012 ENPublishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk
But their legal challenge was rejected by Justice Haddon-Cave, sitting at London's High Court, who said: "The law and the facts militate against the claim for judicial review".
"For the club to so aggressively militate against what looks to most people a considered judgment from the FA leads to a potential for anarchy."
In other words, while there are structural obstacles to the Brotherhood's gaining outsize influence"the two institutions most devoted to preserving Egyptian national intereststhe military and state bureaucracynot to mention most Egyptians themselves," Fromer notes, "are far too devoted to Egypt to compromise its national security and welfare for the sake of anyone else"the deeper motivations of the Egyptian people also militate against any strand of nationalism in which Islam is anything beyond a religious faith.
give your and Letters and are editor's Ostensibly the plan to minimise landfill may seem sensible but there are stumbling blocks which militate against poorer families.
Pakistanis are already subjected to discriminatory treatment at American Airports and that enhanced security screenings would militate against cultural values of Pakistanis," he maintained.
The first section argues that psychology has been and remains mired in conceptual problems that militate against its full development as a science.
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