Slang dictionary

sitrep

[sit-rep]

What does sitrep mean?

Roger, Charlie, give me a sitrep at 0900! A sitrep is a status report on military activity in an area.

Related words

Roger that, Charlie Foxtrot, tactical shit, Kilroy was here, 10-4, under siege

Where does sitrep come from?

Imgflip

Sitrep is short for situation report and first saw extensive use during World War II. A situation report, militarily speaking, can contain anything from descriptions of troop deployments to details of the aftermath of military conflicts.

Sitrep was used as early as September 1941. British intelligence reports on the Siege of Leningrad give a sitrep on German and Soviet tank movements. Sitrep was used frequently in military documents of the English-speaking members of the Allies. The Indian Ministry of Defense was issuing sitreps in 1944 and the US military was providing numerous sitreps from the Pacific Theater in the late 1940s.

After World War II, sitrep continued to be used in numerous military documents of both the UK and US. Several US Presidents, including Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter, personally wrote sitreps during various military conflicts the US involved after World War II.

Red Canary

Examples of sitrep

sitrep: Kings of Leon rocks, but not very charismatic thus far - giving it time
@blacktar, July 2007
For him, the resulting confusion is harrowing. For us, it’s part of the fun, like the insidery frisson of hearing nuggets of spy jargon hissed by unsmiling people in dark suits. “Alpha team, I need a sitrep, stat!”
A.O. Scott, The New York Times, July 2016
Meme Generator
SEE MORE EXAMPLES

Who uses sitrep?

Sitrep is still used by the US military and Twitter-using veterans.

Since the 1940s, sitrep has also been used by civilians who have been exposed to the word through movies, shows, books, and games about the military. It’s increasingly used to describe general, non-military “status updates.”

Just Added

Earth Day, yassification, ♈ Aries Emoji, Autism Acceptance Month, Autism Awareness Month

Note

This is not meant to be a formal definition of sitrep like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of sitrep that will help our users expand their word mastery.

  • Other categories