Definition

1. Verb (Transitive):

   • To disband or release from military service: To officially send home soldiers or other military personnel, typically after a war or conflict has ended.
   • To deactivate or withdraw from active military use: To take military units, equipment, or installations out of active service.

2. Verb (Intransitive):

   • To be disbanded from military service: For troops to be released from active duty.

Usage and Examples

• Transitive Verb:

  • The government announced plans to demobilise thousands of troops following the peace treaty.
  • After the war, the primary challenge was to demobilise the massive army efficiently and reintegrate soldiers into civilian life.

• Intransitive Verb:

  • The soldiers were eager to demobilise and return to their families.

Advanced Usage

• "to demobilise an army/force": The standard construction for releasing a large military body.

  • The treaty required the country to demobilise half of its armed forces within six months.

• "to demobilise industry/economy": (Extended, figurative use) To transition a nation's industry or economy from a wartime footing to a peacetime one.

  • The post-war government also had to demobilise the wartime economy, shifting factories back to consumer goods.

Variants and Related Words

• Demobilisation (Demobilization) (n): The act or process of demobilising.

  • The demobilisation process was complex and required careful logistical planning.

• Demob (v/n) (chiefly British, informal): A shortened, colloquial form of 'demobilise' or 'demobilisation'.

  • He got demobbed in 1946. (v)
  • After his demob, he struggled to find a job. (n)

• Remobilise (v): To call back into military service; the opposite action.

  • Fearing a new threat, the state had to remobilise its reserves.

Synonyms

• Discharge: To release from service, often with formal paperwork.
• Decommission: To take (a ship, weapon, etc.) out of active service.
• Stand down: To order troops to relax from a state of readiness or alert.

Antonyms

• Mobilise: To assemble and prepare troops and resources for active service.
• Conscript: To enlist someone compulsorily into the armed forces.
• Enlist: To voluntarily join the armed forces.

Related Phrases

• Demobilisation centre: A facility where soldiers are processed out of the military.
  • He spent a week at the demobilisation centre before finally going home.

Verb

1. retire from military service
2. release from military service or remove from the active list of military service