Partisan - Definition and Overview

Partisan may refer to:

• A member of a lightly-equipped irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation. In this context the term often refers to the field element of resistance movements that opposed Nazi domination in several countries during World War II. For information on any particular such movement, see the list of links in resistance movement.
• Someone with a personal or professional commitment to one particular party, faction, cause, or person; observers may describe such partisans as "being partisan", and their outlook as "partisan views". This usage tends to express a degree of disapproval, with a hint that the degree of partisanship or devotion seems excessive.
• A pole weapon resembling a broad-bladed spear with laterally projecting blades below the tip.