arms control

noun

: limitation of the use, exchange, or manufacture of military weapons by nations often as a policy established through diplomatic negotiation

Kennedy handled the missile crisis as a political issue—resisting the temptation to make it a totally military stand-off that might have escalated into world war—and set a goal of nuclear arms control.

—Juan Williams, Washington Post, 28 Apr. 1991

Word History

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined above

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