How to Use martial law in a Sentence

martial law

noun
  • The government has imposed martial law throughout the city to stop the riots.
  • Elections are banned in Ukraine while martial law is in place.
    — Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Aug. 2025
  • There was talk of martial law happening and all these things.
    — Patrick Lyons, Billboard, 13 Apr. 2023
  • The best way to shut up the sources is to win lots of games, not declare martial law on them.
    — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 6 Aug. 2019
  • The five-month siege was quelled but martial law has been extended.
    — Jim Gomez, Fox News, 11 May 2018
  • The area is now under martial law, but many workers have vowed not to give up.
    — New York Times, 19 Mar. 2021
  • This is not a call for martial law or a long-term military presence.
    — Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2025
  • Ukraine says adoptions will resume three months after the end of martial law.
    — David L. Stern, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2023
  • In some parts of the world, new emergency laws have revived old fears of martial law.
    — Selam Gebrekidan, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2020
  • Under martial law, elections can't be held.
    — Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 26 Sep. 2025
  • And with martial law, all men ages 18 to 60 were required to join the army.
    — Anna Conkling, Rolling Stone, 24 Mar. 2022
  • The strongman praised the martial law era and in some ways emulated it with his bloody six-year war on drugs.
    — Regine Cabato, Washington Post, 16 June 2022
  • Experts warn a form of martial law has also been imposed across Russia.
    — Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 22 Oct. 2022
  • At the very beginning of March, a rumor spread that martial law was about to be declared.
    — Maxim Osipov, The Atlantic, 16 May 2022
  • His arrest marks the first formal detention tied to the martial law decree.
    — Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2024
  • Whether Yoon plotted to launch such a body would help explain his intentions for martial law.
    — Hyung-Jin Kim, Los Angeles Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • Video from the region also showed tanks heading through Stepanakert as martial law was declared.
    — Fox News, 27 Sep. 2020
  • This was the first time martial law was declared in South Korea in over 40 years.
    — Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Her father stayed in Ukraine, where, under martial law, men of fighting age cannot leave the country.
    — Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2022
  • Ukraine is under martial law, which prevents holding elections.
    — Laura Kelly, The Hill, 10 Dec. 2025
  • All Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 must stay in the country per martial law.
    — Katya Soldak, Forbes, 8 June 2022
  • Two male students fall in love in Taiwan in 1987, as martial law ends.
    — Carly Mallenbaum, USA TODAY, 24 Nov. 2020
  • At the time, Maryland was occupied by Union troops and was under martial law.
    — Mary Carole McCauley, baltimoresun.com, 5 June 2018
  • Then the mayor declared martial law and called in the National Guard.
    — Marissa J. Lang, Washington Post, 1 July 2018
  • Mr Duterte imposed martial law on Mindanao and poured troops into Marawi.
    — The Economist, 17 Oct. 2017
  • To retreat now, as the regime imposes silence and martial law, is abandonment.
    — Dan Bilefsky, HollywoodReporter, 21 Jan. 2026
  • The current state of martial law was expected to conclude on April 25.
    — Bloomberg.com, 19 Apr. 2022
  • In January, he was sentenced to five years in prison for charges related to the martial law decree.
    — Washington Examiner Staff, The Washington Examiner, 19 Feb. 2026
  • The city was placed under martial law and the National Guard was brought in to halt the violence.
    — Claudia Harmata, PEOPLE.com, 18 Dec. 2019
  • This is the first time martial law has been imposed in the Eastern European country.
    — Stavros Agorakis, Vox, 29 Nov. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'martial law.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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