superweapon

noun

su·​per·​weap·​on ˌsü-pər-ˈwe-pən How to pronounce superweapon (audio)
plural superweapons
: an extremely powerful weapon
President Truman had, as vice president, been kept totally in the dark about the Manhattan Project, so it was a great surprise to him to learn of the atomic superweapon soon to be at his disposal.Kelli Peduzzi
This is a trebuchet, a fearsome, poorly understood superweapon of the Middle Ages …Evan Hadingham

Examples of superweapon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Alongside a group of Master Builders, including the tough Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and the wise Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), Emmet embarks on an adventure to stop the evil Lord Business (Will Ferrell) from using a superweapon to glue the Lego world together. Travis Bean, Forbes, 14 Sep. 2024 Post Post Share Save Buy Copies Print Generative AI must seem like a superweapon to malicious actors who aim to sow discord online. Chris Bail, Harvard Business Review, 20 Mar. 2024 However, Galen's daughter Jyn (Felicity Jones) allies with spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and other Rebel Alliance fighters to swipe the plans for the superweapon and secure the Rebellion's first major victory against the Empire. Devan Coggan, EW.com, 22 May 2024 While Mimas most definitely isn’t a planet-destroying superweapon, nobody could say with any certainty whether an abundance of liquid water was hiding beneath its icy shell. Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 7 Feb. 2024 The Leopard 2s performed well but were hardly invulnerable superweapons. Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, 29 Jan. 2024 Paras had just dumped the recipe for a superweapon into a mosh pit. Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023 While the Allies sent back home a trove of German superweapons during Project Paperclip, including jets and missiles, there’s no record of any version of Die Glocke ever being captured. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 10 Aug. 2023 The film is about nuclear war, nuclear testing, the devastation of superweapons, the hubris of scientists, and the assurance that this would happen again if nothing changed. Kelsey Atherton, Vulture, 26 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of superweapon was in 1914

Dictionary Entries Near superweapon

Cite this Entry

“Superweapon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superweapon. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.

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