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ammunition

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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an assortment of rifle ammunition

Etymology

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From older French amunition, rebracketing of la munition (“the war supplies”) as l'amunition. Ultimately from Latin; see munition for more.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌæmjuˈnɪʃən/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

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ammunition (countable and uncountable, plural ammunitions)

  2. Articles used in charging firearms and ordnance of all kinds; as powder, balls, shot, shells, percussion caps, rockets, etc.
    Synonym: ammo
    • 1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 359:
      Hiro risks turning on a small flashlight, uses it to rummage around the yatcht, picking up valuable stuff: a few bottles of (presumably) drinkable water, some food, extra ammunition for his nine.
  3. (obsolete) Military stores, or provisions of all kinds for attack or defense.
    ammunition bread
    ammunition shoes
  4. (figurative) Arguments and information that can be used against the other party in a conflict.
    • 1938, American Lumberman, page 52:
      They say that the booklet gives them ammunition which is proving effective in breaking down resistance against home building which was created by false propaganda.
    • 1960, America, Volume 104, America Press, page 697:
      As long as the integration fight is in progress, some Southerners are willing to believe anything if it gives them ammunition in their fight to "retain our traditional way of life." If you have any wise bits of philosophy, please pass them along.
    • 2005, Blanche Woolls, David V. Loertscher, The Whole School Library Handbook, American Library Association, →ISBN, page 146:
      Providing your administrator(s) with evidence of research progress gives them ammunition to request additional funds from the site-based management pool.
    • 2010, Joan Kloth-Zanard, Where Did I Go Wrong? How Did I Miss the Signs? Dealing with Hostile Parenting & Parental Alienation, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 109:
      The first thing to do is NOT constantly defend and argue with the ex or the children. It gives them ammunition and fuels their engines to come after you. In addition, you are just giving them more to use against you.
    • 2017 February 27, Mure Dickie, Henry Mance, “Theresa May’s speech to head off Scottish independence poll”, in Financial Times‎[1]:
      However, preventing a vote from taking place could give ammunition to the SNP, which argues that Scotland’s view carries little weight in the union.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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ammunition (third-person singular simple present ammunitions, present participle ammunitioning, simple past and past participle ammunitioned)

  1. To supply with ammunition.

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Etymology

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From older French amunition, rebracketing of la munition as l'amunition, from Latin munitio.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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ammunition c (uncountable)

  1. ammunition (articles used in charging firearms) [from 1658]
  2. (figurative) ammunition (arguments and information) [from 1907]

Declension

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Declension of ammunition
nominative genitive
singular indefinite ammunition ammunitions
definite ammunitionen ammunitionens
plural indefinite — —
definite — —

References

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