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

But the AI arms race has been driving a wedge between members of the Magnificent Seven for some time.

From The Wall Street Journal

Often described as being in an evolutionary "arms race," bacteria can evolve defenses against phages, while phages develop new ways to thwart defenses.

From Science Daily

It is the software backbone of the AI semiconductor arms race.

From Barron's

“In the arms race between credit-card banks for those elite customers at the very, very top, I think they are going to be just fine.”

From MarketWatch

For him, “wartime” refers to the AI arms race among tech giants.

From Barron's