balance of terror

American  

noun

1. the distribution of nuclear arms among nations such that no nation will initiate an attack for fear of retaliation.

   maintaining the balance of terror between the United States and the Soviet Union.

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balance of terror Cultural  

1. The balance of power between nations that are equipped with nuclear weapons, stemming from their fear of mutual annihilation in a nuclear war.

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Etymology

Origin of balance of terror

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

balance of terror

A late season action scene also plays this out in peerless balance of terror and wheeze-inducing slapstick that keeps raising the level of ridiculousness.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2022

Yetnikoff played the good cop as well as the bad cop, creating what he called “a mutual balance of terror between me and my artists.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2021

There was much more to it than the balance of terror between the superpowers.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 1, 2019

In the 1980s, as the Cold War moved towards its end, Dr Owen could speak about the nuclear balance of terror and relations with the Soviet Union.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2017

The global balance of terror is a very delicate balance.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan