WEAPONIZE Definition & Meaning

weaponize

[ wep-uh-nahyz ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

verb (used with object)

weaponized, weaponizing.

to supply or equip with a weapon or weapons:
to weaponize trucks and helicopters.
to develop (a chemical, microorganism, etc.) for use as a weapon, as in biological warfare:
to weaponize uranium;
weaponized anthrax.
to use as a means to gain a powerful advantage:
She has been known to weaponize her femininity.

weaponize

/ ˈ��ɛ��əˌ�Բ�ɪ�� /

verb

to adapt (a chemical, bacillus, etc) in such a way that it can be used as a weapon

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Other 51�Թ� Forms

�ɱ𲹱�o��·��·��t��ǲ� noun

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of weaponize¹

First recorded in 1955–60; weapon ( def ) + -ize ( def )

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Trump may have half-listened while Musk or Vance or some other genius underling laid out a crackbrained scheme for weaponizing Europe’s social and political divisions in order to carve up the continent.

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But what if the truth becomes not merely inconvenient, but weaponized by unscrupulous actors in a war against the public interest?

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That’s still devastating — but it also reveals the administration’s number to be 3 to 5 times higher than best-practice estimates, weaponized rhetorically to gut public health programs that have nothing to do with opioids.

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What happened in the first quarter of this century is already being weaponized in a startling fashion in the second era of Donald Trump.

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And the bureaucracy, even under Trump, is being weaponized against core American values.

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