ordnance
Americannoun
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cannon or artillery.
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military weapons with their equipment, ammunition, etc.
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the branch of an army that procures, stores, and issues, weapons, munitions, and combat vehicles and maintains arsenals for their development and testing.
noun
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cannon or artillery
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military supplies; munitions
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a department of an army or government dealing with military supplies
Etymology
Origin of ordnance
First recorded in 1620–30; syncopated variant of ordinance
Explanation
Ordnance is another word for military supplies, like guns, rockets, or armor. When a country is at war, it needs a lot of ordnance. The average person has probably never heard of ordnance. In fact, an ordinary person would have some explaining to do if they had ordnance, because it refers to military supplies. The word ordinance for “command” lost an i in the 1500’s and became ordnance, meaning “military materials.” Both words go with war — a command to shoot requires ordnance, or something to shoot with. Ordnance helps soldiers fight and protect them. You can’t go to war without ordnance.
Vocabulary lists containing ordnance
The Things They Carried
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All the Light We Cannot See
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Life of Pi
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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.
A fourth servicemember was killed last week in Iraq during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
“It carries so much ordnance, so many bombs that we never could replace it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Poorly drafted emergency-power laws, some dating back to the early days of the Republic, are unexploded ordnance that could blow up the constitutional order.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
The city was heavily bombed during World War Two and unexploded ordnance is still occasionally discovered.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
Hereupon the president was contented the fort should be palisadoed, the ordnance mounted, his men armed and exercised.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
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.
