ordnance

noun

ord·​nance ˈȯrd-nən(t)s 

1

a

: military supplies including weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment

bombers dropped heavy concentrations of ordnance on every targeted airfield

—Ron Dick

b

: a service of the army charged with the procuring, distributing, and safekeeping of ordnance

2

: cannon, artillery

Several pieces of ordnance bombarded the entrenched enemy.

Synonyms

• artillery
• guns

Examples of ordnance in a Sentence

The company was outfitted with 50-millimeter ordnance.

the army is waiting for the heavy ordnance to be brought in

Recent Examples on the Web

Visitors can climb an extinct cinder cone volcano nearby, although they’re warned to watch out for rattlesnakes and unexploded military ordnance. —Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2024

In March, magnet fishermen pulled an unexploded ordnance from the Charles River in Massachusetts. —Stephen Smith, CBS News, 3 June 2024

The Corral Fire started around 3 p.m. Saturday along Corral Hollow Road on the border of Alameda and San Joaquin counties, on land used by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Site 300, a facility that once developed explosives material and other ordnance. —Benjy Egel, Sacramento Bee, 2 June 2024

Ukraine is really being littered with explosive ordnance and land mines every day. —IEEE Spectrum, 29 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English ordinaunce, from Anglo-French ordenance disposition, preparation, military provisions — more at ordinance

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

ordnance

noun

ord·​nance ˈȯrd-nən(t)s 

1

: military supplies

also : the branch of the army that obtains and gives out military supplies

2

: artillery sense 1