arms race

noun

: a race between hostile nations to accumulate or develop weapons

broadly : an ever escalating race or competition

Examples of arms race in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Garfield stars as Altman amidst the pressure of the AI arms race, with Ike Barinholtz as co-founder Elon Musk. — Mya Copeland, Variety, 8 Sep. 2026

At the same time, tech giants are racing against tight deadlines to outpace peers in the AI arms race while navigating strained power grids and supply chain bottlenecks for essential components like memory chips. — Morgan Chittum, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2026

Allies and adversaries alike are now engaged in an arms race, ramping up drone production and use in an attempt to innovate their way to the cutting edge. — Seth G. Jones, Foreign Affairs, 3 Sep. 2026

For his part, Blackman has mixed feelings but perhaps more acceptance of the financial arms race of college athletics. — Kansas City Star, 2 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for arms race

• abase
• airspace
• apace
• backspace
• biface
• birthplace
• blackface
• boldface
• bookcase
• braincase
• briefcase
• carcase