Wehrmacht

American

[vair-mahkht, veyr-mahkht] / ˈvɛərˌmɑxt, ˈveɪrˌmɑxt /

noun

the German armed forces of the years prior to and during World War II.

Wehrmacht British

/ ˈveːrˌmaxt /

noun

the armed services of the German Third Reich from 1935 to 1945

"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

Etymology

Origin of Wehrmacht

< German, equivalent to Wehr defense + Macht 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 so-called Day of Honour marked an attempt in 1945 by the German Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, and their Hungarian collaborators to break through a Soviet siege of the city.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

Blockades and strategic bombing of German oil refineries left the Wehrmacht with fuel shortages by 1945 and without key inputs to build munitions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 9, 2025

The town was the site of an intense battle with the German Wehrmacht after U.S. troops landed in Normandy.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 6, 2024

The typewriter was made in Siegmar-Schönau—a suburb of Chemnitz—by Wanderer, an early German pioneer in manufacturing bicycles, motorcycles, cars, and later military trucks and tanks for the Wehrmacht, the armed forces in the Nazi era.

From Slate • Mar. 16, 2024

The athletes were driven to the Olympic Village, a masterpiece of design crafted by Wolfgang Furstner, a Wehrmacht captain.

From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023