deployment

noun

de·​ploy·​ment di-ˈplȯi-mənt 

plural deployments

: the act or movement of deploying or the state of being deployed: such as

a

: placement or arrangement (as of military personnel or equipment) in position for a particular use or purpose

deployment of troops

deployment of a sales force

U.S. military assistance for hurricane relief efforts has delayed the deployment of additional forces to Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

—Reuters

… memories of the peace protests that in the 1980s greeted the deployment of nuclear-armed cruise missiles on Greenham Common in Berkshire.

—Tim Luckhurst

also : an instance of such placement (as in a battle zone) for a period of time

On breaks from his job as a guard at the prison Camp Bucca, Iraq … during his last deployment, in 2007, James would retreat to the camp's sand-swept outdoor court and try to perfect his shot.

—Kelli Anderson

b

: an instance of use that involves something opening and spreading out

a pilot's deployment of a parachute after ejecting from the cockpit

These components work together to fully deploy the air bag within 50 milliseconds of impact. After deployment, the air bag will deflate in approximately 100 milliseconds.

—Martin W. Stockel et al.

Examples of deployment in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Wired has a must-read piece on laser weapons, which, after many decades of science fiction deployment, are now becoming a reality on the battlefield. —David Meyer, Fortune, 15 May 2024

The rest of the deployment will come from more than half a dozen nations that have pledged to provide additional personnel. —Abdi Latif Dahir, New York Times, 14 May 2024

As part of this latest deployment, the task force detained 10 people accused of drug smuggling, according to the press release. —David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 10 May 2024

Japan’s space agency has presented a road map to deployment. —IEEE Spectrum, 9 May 2024

The monsoon rains will complicate the deployment of the military's air power - a key advantage for the junta - with low cloud cover impacting the use of unguided munitions that are typically used by its air force, said Richard Horsey, the Crisis Group's senior Burma adviser. —Fox News, 7 May 2024

The process of unfurling will take about 25 minutes and NASA has equipped the mission with a suite of onboard digital cameras to capture images of the sail during and after deployment to assess its shape and alignment. —Passant Rabie / Gizmodo, Quartz, 2 May 2024

In February 2006, Nehls was retroactively awarded the Combat Action Badge for his 2004 deployment to Iraq, per military records obtained by CBS News. —James Laporta, CBS News, 2 May 2024

Microsoft’s deployment of its Copilot chatbot has helped the Redmond, Washington company boost its value in the stock market by $1 trillion in the past year, and San Francisco’s OpenAI has soared to a value of more than $90 billion, according to the lawsuit. —Ethan Baron, The Denver Post, 30 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French déploiement, from déployer "to unfurl, spread out, deploy" + -ment -ment

First Known Use

1781, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing deployment

• counter-deployment