Word to the Wise: Militate
by ETR (05/8/2008)
To "militate" (MIL-ih-tate) - from the Latin for "soldier" - is to have force or influence.
Example (as used by Donald Caton in What a Blessing She Had Chloroform): "Even though [James Young] Simpson’s youth, limited professional experience, lack of reputation, unmarried status, and modest social origins all militated against success, the twenty-eight-year-old Simpson applied for the post."