deterrence

[dih-tur-uhns, -tuhr-, -ter-] Example Sentences Origin

de·ter·rence

[dih-tur-uhns, -tuhr-, -ter-]
noun
the act of deterring, especially deterring a nuclear attack by the capacity or threat of retaliating.

Origin:
1860–65; deterr(ent) + -ence
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Deterrence is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Example Sentences
  • As far as possible the jail population should be kept as low as is possible, consistent with public safety and some deterrence.
  • Her government, for its part, failed doubly in the basics of deterrence.
  • Deterrence becomes impossibly complicated when many balances have to be considered by many different actors simultaneously.
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World English Dictionary
deterrent (dɪˈtɛrənt)
 
n
1.  something that deters
2.  a weapon or combination of weapons, esp nuclear, held by one state, etc, to deter attack by another
 
adj
3.  tending or used to deter; restraining
 
[C19: from Latin dēterrēns hindering; see deter]
 
de'terrence
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

deterrence
1861, from deterrent.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

deterrence definition


A military capability sufficiently strong to discourage any would-be aggressor from starting a war because of the fear of retaliation. (See balance of terror.)

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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