armament

IPA/ˈɑːməmənt/
KK[ˈɑrməmənt]IPA/ˈɑːrməmənt/

armament — noun

1. the guns, missiles, tanks, and other fighting equipment that an army, navy, or a

1.nounC1
Definition

the guns, missiles, tanks, and other fighting equipment that an army, navy, or air force uses, especially the heavier kinds carried on ships, aircraft, or vehicles.

Example

The destroyer carried armaments powerful enough to sink a submarine.

plural form for a ship's weapons set

Inspectors counted the armaments stored inside the bunker near the border.

plural countable: stored armaments

Common collocations
  • heavy armaments
  • nuclear armaments
  • stockpile of armaments
  • modern armaments
Synonyms
  • weaponry

    very close in meaning; slightly more general and slightly less formal

  • arms

    broader; covers small personal weapons too, while 'armaments' usually means heavy gear

  • munitions

    narrower; focuses on bullets, shells, and explosives rather than the launching equipment

Grammar Patterns

armaments of [country/force]

heavy/nuclear armaments

Usage Note

Almost always plural in this sense. Refers to the physical hardware itself; distinguish from sense 2, which describes the activity of building up that hardware.

Common Mistakes

The soldier cleaned his armament before patrol.
The soldier cleaned his rifle before patrol.
for a single personal weapon, use 'rifle / gun / weapon'; 'armament' implies a larger collection of military hardware.

2. the policy or activity by which a country builds up its supply of weapons, usual

2.nounC1
Definition

the policy or activity by which a country builds up its supply of weapons, usually because its leaders expect or are preparing for a war.

Example

Years of secret armament left the small republic ready to fight by 1939.

uncountable: 'years of armament'

Critics accused the prime minister of pushing rapid armament instead of talks.

armament as a policy

Common collocations
  • programme of armament
  • rapid armament
  • secret armament
  • policy of armament
Synonyms
  • arming

    plainer everyday word for the same activity

  • militarization

    broader; includes building bases and shaping society for war, not just collecting weapons

  • rearmament

    specifically resuming armament after a period of cuts or peace

Antonyms
  • disarmament

    the opposite policy: cutting back the supply of weapons

Grammar Patterns

armament of [country]

policy/programme of armament

Usage Note

Uncountable in this sense, in contrast with the plural-countable hardware sense. Often paired with 'rearmament' (resuming after a pause) or 'disarmament' (the opposite policy).

Common Mistakes

The government announced two new armaments last week.
The government announced a new armament programme last week.
when meaning the act/policy of arming, treat 'armament' as uncountable; the countable plural means the hardware itself.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe tools of war, but they are not interchangeable. 'Armament' (usually plural 'armaments') is the most formal and tends to point at the heavier hardware of a state's military: tanks, missile systems, ships' guns. 'Weaponry' is close in meaning but a touch more general and a touch less official, often used in journalism for the whole range a force carries. 'Arms' is the broadest and oldest term and easily covers a soldier's rifle as well as a fleet's cannons; it appears in fixed phrases like 'arms trade' and 'right to bear arms'. 'Munitions' is narrower again, picking out the consumable supplies — bullets, shells, bombs — rather than the platforms that fire them. Compare: 'a factory making munitions' (ammunition), 'a factory making weaponry' (anything from rifles to drones), 'modern armaments' (heavy state-level kit).

armament ↗weaponry ↗arms ↗munitions ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • armament programme
  • armament industry
  • armament race
  • armament policy

Adverbs

Phrases

  • build up armaments
  • stockpile of armaments
  • reduce armaments
  • modern armaments

Prepositions

  • of (a country/force)
  • for (war/defence)

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early seventeenth century from Latin 'armamentum', meaning the equipment or tackle of a ship, from 'armare' ('to arm'). The original sense in English referred to the gear of a warship; from there it widened to cover any heavy fighting equipment a state controls, and then took on the related abstract sense of the ongoing activity of supplying a country with such weapons.