arms race

American  

noun

1. competition between countries to achieve superiority in quantity and quality of military arms.

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arms race British  

noun

1. the continuing competitive attempt by two or more nations each to have available to it more and more powerful weapons than the other(s)

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Etymology

Origin of arms race

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arms race

If it does make a bomb, a regional arms race could ensue.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2026

Other Big Ten schools signed with Nike signed during a stretch between 2015 and 2016 that became an apparel arms race around college football.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

A growing sense of fatigue with the artificial intelligence trade and the related arms race is prompting one strategist to advise that investors stick with the so-called picks and shovels rather than the spenders.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026

Both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed confidential IPO documents with US regulators and are targeting public listings at valuations approaching $1 trillion, raising the commercial stakes of the AI arms race between them.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

He had planned to lay out his step-by-step strategy for preventing an arms race, backing each step with clearly reasoned arguments.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin