weapons of mass destruction


pl n
  1. nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons that can cause indiscriminate death or injury on a large scale: Abbreviation: WMD

Words Nearby weapons of mass destruction

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for weapons of mass destruction

weapons of mass destruction

Weapons that can produce devastating results when delivered in a single strike. They include nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Notes for weapons of mass destruction

One of the great challenges of the twenty-first century will be to constrain the proliferation and use of such weapons, especially by terrorists (see terrorism).

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.