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

Later, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac refused to endorse the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that the U.S. hadn’t provided sufficient evidence that the regime was pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

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

Some scholars have, however, voiced concern about whether using weapons of mass destruction to signpost humankind’s transformation of the planet would send the wrong kind of message about our time.

From New York Times • Mar. 5, 2024

Those engaged in the development and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction are given salaries, perquisites of power and, where possible, public honors at the highest levels available in their respective societies.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan