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

The decision came as Texas, California and Virginia had already taken steps to redraw their congressional district ahead of the midterms in a bit of a redistricting arms race. — Irene Wright, USA Today, 17 June 2026

The competition to lure productions resembles the arms race of the ‘80s — the incentives are richer and easier to get than ever before. — Carole Horst, Variety, 16 June 2026

Olivia’s now decisively up a point in the Carpenter-Rodrigo arms race to collect ‘80s pop icons like Pokémon. — Walden Green, Pitchfork, 12 June 2026

While Amazon has not explicitly detailed the precise destination for every dollar, TechCrunch said the loan underscores that tech giants are aggressively burning through unprecedented cash reserves to survive the artificial intelligence arms race. — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 12 June 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