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Department of Defense

American  

noun

  1. the department of the U.S. federal government charged with ensuring that the military capacity of the U.S. is adequate to safeguard the national security. DOD


Department of Defense Cultural  
  1. A department of the federal executive branch entrusted with formulating military policies and maintaining American military forces. Its top official is the civilian secretary of defense. It is headquartered in the Pentagon.


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:

Despite those whiffs of corruption, the deal could let the Department of Defense acquire shares in NABEP, the Wall Street Journal reports.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

Consider these items in the law that funded the Department of Defense this year:

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

The BBC has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026

This past weekend’s “CBS Sunday Morning” featured a segment from national security correspondent David Martin about the Department of Defense interfering with the editorial independence of Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

Department of Defense antidrug allocations increased from $33 million in 1981 to $1,042 million in 1991.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

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