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

Meanwhile, behind closed doors, the global superpowers were accelerating the arms race. — Scott W. Stern, The Atlantic, 17 Sep. 2026

The competition between American and Chinese AI companies has been likened to an arms race, which experts said is not conducive to collaboration. — Kaitlyn Huamani, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun urged Washington to stop expanding its military footprint off the planet, warning against a catastrophic space arms race. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 15 Sep. 2026

Trump, though, has warned of a slowdown in AI development ceding the technological arms race to China. — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 14 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