armed forces
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of armed forces
First recorded in 1685–95
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Canadian Armed Forces recruitment has also reached a 30-year high, and the country has begun acquiring billions of dollars in new military hardware.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 6, 2026
This begins with two small “pilot zones” the IDF will hand to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which are charged with disarming “non-state armed groups”—the preferred Lebanese euphemism for Hezbollah—and dismantling terror infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 29, 2026
"Our Armed Forces have always been bound by the rule of law, and those who served honourably and followed the rules have absolutely nothing to fear."
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
Last month’s infodump of an Armed Forces report listing 209 sightings of unidentified objects was announced with a presidential tweet that “the people can decide for themselves.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026
They told me they were heading for a village called Yele in Bonthe district that they had heard was safe because it was occupied by the Sierra Leone Armed Forces.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
