armed forces

American  

plural noun

1. military, naval, and air forces, especially of a nation or of a number of nations.

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armed forces British  

plural noun

1. the military forces of a nation or nations, including the army, navy, air force, marines, etc

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Etymology

Origin of armed forces

First recorded in 1685–95

Example Sentences

The armed forces have been sharply pared down and largely transformed into a tourism management company.

From The Wall Street Journal

Finland is barely out of the treaty banning them but the country's armed forces are already training soldiers to lay anti-personnel mines, citing a threat from neighbouring Russia.

From Barron's

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack but MSF said: "The government of South Sudan armed forces are the only armed party with the capacity to perform aerial attacks in the country."

From BBC

The US and Russia have agreed to re-establish high-level dialogue between their armed forces.

From BBC

Even without allies, Lithuania’s own armed forces—17,000 in peacetime and 58,000 after an immediate mobilization—would have been able to deal with a limited threat to Marijampole, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• military
• troops