Jump to:

• scorched-earth policy
  scorched-earth policy

  noun

  a military practice of devastating the property and agriculture of an area before abandoning it to an advancing enemy.
• scorched earth policy
  scorched earth policy

  noun

  the policy in warfare of removing or destroying everything that might be useful to an invading enemy, esp by fire

scorched-earth policy

American  

[skawrcht-urth] / ˈskɔrtʃtˈɜrθ /

noun

1. a military practice of devastating the property and agriculture of an area before abandoning it to an advancing enemy.

---

scorched earth policy British  

noun

1. the policy in warfare of removing or destroying everything that might be useful to an invading enemy, esp by fire

2. commerce a manoeuvre by a company expecting an unwelcome takeover bid in which apparent profitability is greatly reduced by a reversible operation, such as borrowing at an exorbitant interest rate

---

Etymology

Origin of scorched-earth policy

1935–40; apparently translation of Chinese jiāotǔ zhèngcè

Example Sentences

It follows a similar psychological scorched-earth policy, albeit in a more abstract, cerebral key.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2015

Their colour and flamboyance was an antidote to the scorched-earth policy of punk, and it set the tone for the rest of the '80s.

From BBC • Feb. 13, 2015

“That was the scorched-earth policy — that they were going to take no prisoners. It made me try everything, and so I tried everything, and we won everything.”

From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2015

On the eve of the publication of his second novel, he effects a scorched-earth policy — sometimes appallingly funny, sometimes just dreadful — toward almost everyone in his life.

From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2014

The Soviet scorched-earth policy slowed the advance of the German army.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012