ammunition
Americannoun
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the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon, as bombs or rockets, and especially shot, shrapnel, bullets, or shells fired by guns.
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the means of igniting or exploding such material, as primers, fuzes, and gunpowder.
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any material, means, weapons, etc., used in any conflict.
a crude ammunition of stones.
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information, advice, or supplies to help defend or attack a viewpoint, argument, or claim.
Give me some ammunition for the debate.
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Obsolete. any military supplies.
noun
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any projectiles, such as bullets, rockets, etc, that can be discharged from a weapon
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bombs, missiles, chemicals, biological agents, nuclear materials, etc, capable of use as weapons
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any means of defence or attack, as in an argument
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of ammunition
1620–30; < Middle French amonitions, amunitions (plural) military supplies ( a- a- 5 + munition < Latin; see munition), or < French la munition, wrongly analyzed as l'amunition
Explanation
Soldiers carry their ammunition: the bullets and shells needed for their guns. The word ammunition is used to describe the supply of shells or bullets used for a gun, as well as nuclear, chemical or biological matter that can be used in much larger weapons. But we also use it for metaphorical attack material. If you're trying to prove that your big brother is a jerk, your neighbor's story about how he kicked her dog is ammunition for your argument.
Vocabulary lists containing ammunition
Words from "The Avengers"
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Language Gone Wrong: Words That Started Out as Errors
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World War I
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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.
See Examples For:
There he collected a semi-automatic pistol, a revolver and some ammunition.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
But is the US really eating through ammunition so fast that it may struggle to fulfil its military duties and objectives?
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
On that subject, he dismissed concerns that US ammunition stockpiles were running low nearly five months after war broke out.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
There’s a regular back and forth between a dystopic L.A. and a really dystopic L.A. that provides a lot of the comic ammunition.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The catapult arm sprang upward faster than Nico’s eye could follow, launching Octavian along with the ammunition.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Numerous inmates at the prison, which is located near the ammunitions store, are reported to have been injured.
From BBC ● Apr. 1, 2026
The weapons and ammunitions segment posted a 38% jump in third-quarter sales to 691 million euros.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
They also captured the Yarmouk ammunitions factory in June, seized areas east of the strategic Halfaya Bridge and recently took over the south Khartoum and Omdurman Central Reserve Police bases, according to residents and analysts.
From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2023
"There are hard-hitting business interests behind the entire ammunitions issue," the industry source said.
From Reuters ● Jun. 13, 2023
The instructions given to these men were that they were to come with rifle, horse, saddle and bridle, and as much ammunitions and provisions as they could manage to bring.
From New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 2, May, 1915 April-September, 1915 by Various
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.
