axis of evil

British  

noun

1. North Korea, Iraq, and Iran when considered together as a perceived threat to world stability

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Etymology

Origin of axis of evil

C21: coined by George W Bush, 43rd US President

Example Sentences

“A Working Man” molds the Levon character to Statham, making him a British soldier and tilting the book’s axis of evil away from “ ‘Merica good, everyone else bad.”

From Los Angeles Times

Only one woman conceded that if it meant South Korea becoming "an axis of evil" then it was probably not worth it.

From BBC

President Bush claimed Saddam was continuing to stockpile and manufacture WMDs and that Iraq was part of an international "axis of evil", along with Iran and North Korea.

From BBC

That sad chapter in American history produced its share of jingoistic buzzwords and phrases: “WMD,” “the axis of evil,” “regime change,” “yellowcake uranium,” “the coalition of the willing,” and a cheesy but terrifying refrain, repeated ad nauseam by Bush administration officials such as then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

From Los Angeles Times

But unlike former President George W. Bush, who used his 2002 State of the Union address to declare an “axis of evil” on the eve of the Iraq war, Mr. Biden urged Americans to remain optimistic and hopeful as a way of inspiring supporters of democracy elsewhere.

From New York Times