superweapon

English

Alternative forms

• super-weapon

Etymology

From super- +‎ weapon.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

superweapon (plural superweapons)

1. An extremely powerful weapon.
   • 1873, United States Congress, Congressional Record‎^[1], The Congress, page 761:

     We must be very careful how we pin our faith on this thing, assuming that It is successfully developed; we must be wary of the idea that a superweapon can give us a superpower in the world or relieve us of the hard obligations of intelligent policy and diplomacy, of consistency, integrity, and foresight on the basic plane of human relationships.

   • 1918, Muriel Hine, The Best in Life‎^[2], John Lane Company, page 216:

     And this was what Prussianism aimed at with her supermen and superweapons: to place the whole world in fetters and enforce the doctrine that “ might is right.”

   • 1969 February 3, The Nation‎^[3], J.H. Richards, page 150:

     It was after the publication of 1984 that Orwell became, as Isaac Deutscher put it, an ideological "superweapon of the cold war."

Translations

extremely powerful weapon

• Finnish: superase

References

• “superweapon”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “superweapon”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “super-weapon, n.”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.