pretorian a of or relating to a Roman praetor s characteristic of or similar to the corruptible soldiers in the Praetorian Guard with respect to corruption or political venality Usage(s) The Cuban army was a pretorian guard in the service of a dictator. Back of the banqueting hall stood Stalin's pretorian guard of young Georgians, recruited in the mountains and obedient to his slightest wish. Synonym(s) praetorian praetorial pretorial Praetorian Pretorian