ordnance
noun
ord·nance
ˈȯrd-nən(t)s 
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
Ron Dick
b
: a service of the army charged with the procuring, distributing, and safekeeping of ordnance
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 on the Web
As some Palestinians venture back into parts of Gaza that have been obliterated by months of combat, a new hidden threat emerges: unexploded ordnance.
—Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 13 May 2024
There are hundreds of hectares filled with mines and unexploded ordnance.
—Oleksandr Chubko Mauricio Lima, New York Times, 10 May 2024
As a rule of thumb, the U.N. assumes that ten per cent of ordnance fail to function.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 May 2024
Researchers are still unraveling how these unexploded ordnances affect human and environmental health.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2024
The troops, which included members of an elite army unit specializing in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), had decorated Boomer posthumously with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 Apr. 2024
Unexploded ordnance might be the most pervasive threat.
—Adam Taylor, Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2023
Pro-regime forces sent jets thundering overhead, and ordnance crashed down at random.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s explosive ordnance disposal team was called and remove all explosives from the home.
—Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 22 Feb. 2024
Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 13 May 2024
There are hundreds of hectares filled with mines and unexploded ordnance.
—Oleksandr Chubko Mauricio Lima, New York Times, 10 May 2024
As a rule of thumb, the U.N. assumes that ten per cent of ordnance fail to function.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 8 May 2024
Researchers are still unraveling how these unexploded ordnances affect human and environmental health.
—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2024
The troops, which included members of an elite army unit specializing in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), had decorated Boomer posthumously with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
—IEEE Spectrum, 27 Apr. 2024
Unexploded ordnance might be the most pervasive threat.
—Adam Taylor, Washington Post, 6 Dec. 2023
Pro-regime forces sent jets thundering overhead, and ordnance crashed down at random.
—Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office’s explosive ordnance disposal team was called and remove all explosives from the home.
—Rosalio Ahumada, Sacramento Bee, 22 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ordnance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near ordnance
Cite this Entry
“Ordnance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ordnance. Accessed 19 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
ordnance
noun
ord·nance
ˈȯrd-nən(t)s
1
: military supplies
also
: the branch of the army that obtains and gives out military supplies
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