armament

noun

ar·​ma·​ment ˈär-mə-mənt 

 also  ˈärm-mənt

1

: a military or naval force

2

a

: the aggregate of a nation's military strength

b

: weapons, arms

3

: the process of preparing for war

Examples of armament in a Sentence

The country's armament will take years.

a small nation that is determined to have adequate armaments

Recent Examples on the Web

India’s aggregate demand and the UAE’s energy would supplement Israeli technology and American armaments. —Wesley Alexander Hill, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025

All about us grow more deadly armaments—military and economic. —Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Apr. 2025

On the long list of reasons the United States could have lost World War II—the terribly effective surprise Japanese attack, an awful lack of military readiness, the relatively untrained troops—there is perhaps no area in which Americans were more initially outmatched than armament. —Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 1 May 2025

What To Know The nearly 16,000-ton Michael Monsoor, which currently has 80 tubes for launching a variety of missiles in its original armament configuration, departed its home port at Naval Base San Diego on March 28, according to photos released by the U.S. Navy. —Ross Rosenfeld, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably borrowed from French armement "action of arming, equipping of an armed force" (from armer "to arm entry 2" + -ment -ment), reshaped after Latin armāmenta (neuter plural) "sailing gear of a ship, equipment, implements," from armāre "to arm entry 2, equip" + -menta, plural of -mentum -ment

First Known Use

1632, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for armament

• disarmament
• rearmament

Kids Definition

armament

noun

ar·​ma·​ment ˈär-mə-mənt 

1

: the military strength and equipment of a nation

2

: a supply of war materials

3

: the process of preparing for war