ordnance

noun ord·nance \ ˈȯrd-nən(t)s \

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

Definition of ordnance

1 a : military supplies including weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and maintenance tools and equipment

bombers dropped heavy concentrations of ordnance on every targeted airfield
—Ron Dick

b : a service of the army charged with the procuring, distributing, and safekeeping of ordnance

2 : cannon, artillery

Several pieces of ordnance bombarded the entrenched enemy.

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Examples of ordnance in a Sentence

The company was outfitted with 50-millimeter ordnance.
the army is waiting for the heavy ordnance to be brought in

Recent Examples of ordnance from the Web

The army established warehouses, offices, an ordnance depot, a commissary, two hospitals and more.

— kelly kazek, AL.com, "Scenes from Demopolis: Home of Gaineswood, Vine & Olive Colony," 3 Apr. 2018
Shortly after noon, according to Howard, an Army explosive ordnance disposal unit from Fort Belvoir ‘‘confirmed the package tested positive for black powder and residue.

— martin weil and matt zapotosky, BostonGlobe.com, "‘Suspicious packages’ sent to D.C.-area military installations," 27 Mar. 2018
Hurlbut told NBC News that the base's ordnance disposal personnel initially warned people on the scene of the possibility that a bomb was involved, but later declared the area safe after a robot was dispatched to check the vehicle out.

— alex johnson /, NBC News, "Vehicle explodes at entrance to California Air Force base, killing driver," 22 Mar. 2018
The strike, code-named Operation Outside the Box, involved eight fighter planes that took off from air bases across Israel, converging for a strike that delivered 20 tons of ordnance on the main reactor building.

— kyle mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Israel Confirms 2007 Strike on Syrian Nuclear Reactor," 21 Mar. 2018
The discovery of ordnance containing 1.4 tons of explosives in Frankfurt last year during building work forced the evacuation of 65,000 people.

— christopher jasper, Bloomberg.com, "London City Airport Reopens Following Removal of WWII Bomb," 13 Feb. 2018
Her calls brought relief from his high-stakes job as an escort for explosive ordnance disposal specialists, the military experts who get rid of explosive weapons.

— New York Times, "From Crayons to Chemo, He’s Back by Her Side," 9 Mar. 2018
Police and explosive ordnance disposal technicians removed a 1,000-pound bomb that failed to explode during World War II but that successfully brought traffic to a standstill Wednesday in a bustling Hong Kong neighborhood.

— alex horton, Washington Post, "How a 1,000-pound WWII bomb was pulled out of the ground without exploding," 1 Feb. 2018
His participation in a military convoy to take ordnance across America in 1919, when few good roads existed outside of the major cities, had proven America needed great highways.

— ed wallace, star-telegram, "Needed: A Roads Scholar," 24 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ordnance.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.