gunboat diplomacy
noun
diplomatic relations involving the use or threat of military force, especially by a powerful nation against a weaker one.
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Origin of gunboat diplomacy
First recorded in 1925–30
Words nearby gunboat diplomacy
gumweed, gumwood, gun, guna, gunboat, gunboat diplomacy, gun brig, gun camera, gun carriage, gun control, guncotton
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
British Dictionary definitions for gunboat diplomacy
gunboat diplomacy
noun
diplomacy conducted by threats of military intervention, esp by a major power against a militarily weak state
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for gunboat diplomacy
gunboat diplomacy
A policy toward a foreign country that depends on the use, or threat of the use, of arms. (See big stick diplomacy.)
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.