armed neutrality

American  

noun

1. military preparedness without commitment, especially as the expressed policy of a neutral nation in wartime; readiness to counter with force an invasion of rights by any belligerent power.

---

Etymology

Origin of armed neutrality

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

armed neutrality

But they say it is critical to armed neutrality.

From New York Times ● Mar. 12, 2023

Opinion polls had shown the plan would easily win approval in a country where armed neutrality is a tradition, but only 50.2% of voters approved the funding in September.

From Reuters ● Jun. 30, 2021

At Tabatinga, five miles below Leticia on Brazilian soil, several thousand Brazilian troops maintained "armed neutrality" last week.

From Time Magazine Archive

Knowing that trouble might result, Brazilians have had to send troopships of their own up the Amazon to preserve "armed neutrality."

From Time Magazine Archive

He and Knut Holm had never been friends, and though outwardly their relations were to all seeming amicable enough, the attitude of each toward the other was really one of armed neutrality.

From Dry Fish and Wet Tales from a Norwegian Seaport by Nilsen, Anthon Bernhard Elias