guerrilla; guerrilla warfare
Refers to irregular military fighters or the tactics they use. Often used in compounds like ゲリラ戦 (guerrilla warfare).
Guerrillas are operating in the mountainous area.
The government forces were plagued by guerrilla warfare.
noun-modifying (irregular)
Prenominal use describing something that appears suddenly and locally, like a guerrilla attack. Most common in the compound ゲリラ豪雨 (sudden torrential downpour).
See also: ゲリラ豪雨
The area in front of the station was flooded by a sudden torrential downpour.
The anti-government forces waged guerrilla warfare in the mountainous region.
The company surprised the public with a sudden, out-of-the-blue announcement.
The villagers fled after being attacked by guerrillas.
The band suddenly started playing on a street corner, without any prior announcement.
正規軍 is a formally organized national army, the direct opposite of the irregular, non-state fighters called ゲリラ.
ゴリラ means 'gorilla' (the animal) and is easily mixed up with ゲリラ (guerrilla) because the two katakana words sound and look almost identical.
Loanword from Spanish 'guerrilla', diminutive of 'guerra' (war). The prenominal sense derives from the unpredictable, hit-and-run nature of guerrilla tactics.