Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Equipped with weapons: Describes a person, group, or entity that possesses or is carrying weapons.
   • Involving the use of weapons: Describes an action, conflict, or crime that is carried out with weapons.
   • Furnished with defensive or offensive structures: Used in biology to describe plants or animals possessing natural structures like thorns, spines, or bristles.
   • Having arms: Used in combination to specify the number or type of limbs, particularly in mythological or symbolic contexts.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • The bank was robbed by two armed men. (The robbers were carrying guns.)
  • The country maintains a large armed force for its defense. (The military is equipped with weapons.)
  • An armed conflict broke out at the border. (The fighting involved soldiers and weapons.)
  • The cactus is an armed plant with sharp spines. (The plant has natural defensive structures.)

Advanced Usage

• "Armed to the teeth": Heavily equipped with weapons.

  • The soldiers were armed to the teeth for the dangerous mission.

• "Armed with information/knowledge": Metaphorically prepared or equipped with specific information or tools.

  • She went into the negotiation armed with all the latest market data.

Variants and Related Words

• Arm (verb): To supply with weapons.

  • The treaty forbids the country to arm its military with nuclear weapons.

• Unarmed (adj.): Not equipped with weapons; lacking natural defensive structures.

  • The security guard was unarmed. / The rose stem is unarmed and smooth.

• Disarm (verb): To take weapons away from; to deprive of the means of attack.

  • The police managed to disarm the suspect.

Synonyms

• Equipped: Supplied with necessary items, including weapons.
• Militarized: Supplied with military equipment and personnel.
• Weaponized: Equipped with or converted for use as a weapon.

Related Phrases

• Armed forces: The combined military forces of a nation, including the army, navy, and air force.

  • He served in the armed forces for twenty years.

• Armed robbery: The crime of stealing property from a person or place while using or threatening to use a weapon.

  • He was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to ten years in prison.

Idioms

• A double-armed sword: Something that has two significant and often opposite effects or dangers. (Variant of "double-edged sword").
  • Social media is a double-armed sword; it connects people but can also spread misinformation.

Adjective

1. (used of plants and animals) furnished with bristles and thorns
2. having arms or arms as specified; used especially in combination
   • the many-armed goddess Shiva
3. (used of persons or the military) characterized by having or bearing arms
   • armed robbery