force de frappe
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of force de frappe
C20: literally: striking force
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.
The country’s force de frappe, its nuclear strike force, was crucial to its political self-image, and those weapons required, France claimed, the South Seas testing.
From Slate
The lawsuit seems like a commitment to a policy of not merely debating protesters in the court of public opinion, but of going nuclear—utilizing force de frappe to scorch the earth and make an example of them.
From Slate
France clings fiercely to its “force de frappe”.
From The Guardian
Recalling that it was Charles de Gaulle who had first engendered France's force de frappe in the '60s, they accused Chirac of trying to prove his Gaullist credentials and burnish his presidential stature by reaffirming France's status as a nuclear power.
From Time Magazine Archive
The diplomat compares Kim's quest for nuclear power with French President Charles de Gaulle's determination to have his own nuclear force de frappe.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
