armament
Americannoun
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(often plural) the weapon equipment of a military vehicle, ship, or aircraft
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a military force raised and armed ready for war
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preparation for war involving the production of equipment and arms
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of armament
1690–1700; < Latin armāmenta fittings, equivalent to armā ( re ) to fit out ( see arm 2) + -menta (plural) -ment
Explanation
Use the noun armament to talk about the kind of weapons that armies use when they wage wars. A tank, for example, is an armament. The word armament is good for describing heavy duty weaponry and the equipment that's associated with it, like bombs, fighter jets, tanks, and assault rifles. It's even more common to use the plural form, armaments. In the seventeenth century, the word was mainly used to mean "naval force equipped for war," and it comes from the Latin root armare, "to arm, or to furnish with weapons."
Vocabulary lists containing armament
Vocabulary from the First Presidential Debate: September 26, 2016
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Vocabulary from Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (1918)
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Dracula
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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.
Even before the Iran war cut into U.S. armament supplies, lawmakers and military brass worried the U.S. can’t rearm itself fast enough to deter threats and respond to conflicts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
"We should not give up on the goal of denuclearisation because we cannot pursue nuclear armament ourselves," he said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
"Russia's state armament programmes also suggest its production capacity for a system like Avangard is limited," he argues.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025
These activities encouraged curiosity and empathetic listening, skills as important to future Navy and Marine Corps officers as learning military tactics and armament.
From Salon ● Apr. 28, 2025
All those efforts failed because of the Spaniards’ far superior armament.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
