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

The Navy is now considering modifying a class of Coast Guard cutters that would lack basic armaments such as vertical tubes for launching a variety of anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles. —Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026

Getty But the deals now in the works between Kyiv and Washington, and Kyiv and Gulf states, likely won't yield direct swaps of armaments to bolster Ukrainian or Middle Eastern air defenses in the short-term. —Aidan Stretch, CBS News, 23 Mar. 2026

Jessica joined the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln, working on the missiles and armaments of the massive aircraft carrier. —Norma Galeana, CNN Money, 19 Mar. 2026

The visit to the pistol factory followed an inspection Tuesday in which Kim and his daughter watched the test launch of what state media described as nuclear-capable cruise missiles from a naval destroyer as Kim called for speeding up the nuclear armament of his navy. —ABC News, 11 Mar. 2026

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