weapons of mass destruction

British  

plural noun

1.  WMD.  nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons that can cause indiscriminate death or injury on a large scale

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weapons of mass destruction Cultural  

1. Weapons that can produce devastating results when delivered in a single strike. They include nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

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One of the great challenges of the twenty-first century will be to constrain the proliferation and use of such weapons, especially by terrorists (see terrorism).

Example Sentences

Cheney saw that the threat ran beyond Afghanistan and al Qaeda, that terrorists planned more attacks on America, and they might involve weapons of mass destruction.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2025

And while not a member of NATO, Israel coordinates with the security bloc through a process called the Mediterranean Dialogue, which includes work against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2025

Other Americans have advocated for strong bureaucracies to monitor potentially apocalyptic activities like testing weapons of mass destruction as far back as Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign.

From Salon • Sep. 6, 2024

The vetoed resolution focused solely on weapons of mass destruction including nuclear arms, and made no mention of other weapons in space.

From Seattle Times • May 1, 2024

The thought of making weapons of mass destruction had never occurred to him.

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin