demilitarize v.

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

"turn to military use, give a military aspect to" (transitive), 1829, see military + -ize. Related: Militarized; militarizing.

Also re-militarize, 1920, transitive, "to rearm a country or territory that had been demilitarized; equip again with military forces and defenses," originally of Soviet Russia, from re- "back, again" + militarize (v.) or perhaps based on earlier demilitarize (v.). Related: remilitarized; remilitarizing; remilitarization.