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

As with most companies competing in the global AI arms race, the additional dough is believed to be necessary for capital-intensive infrastructure buildout. — Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 15 July 2026

The response should not be framed solely as an arms race to detect every forgery. — Henry Bair, STAT, 14 July 2026

Jonestown afflicted Naipaul’s vision, his way of deciphering not just political manias but the dreariness of urban life, the perpetual doom of the nuclear-arms race. — Hua Hsu, New Yorker, 14 July 2026

Other Big Ten schools signed with Nike signed during a stretch between 2015 and 2016 that became an apparel arms race around college football. — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 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