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
Entire neighborhoods had to be cleared of rubble and unexploded ordnance.
—Clayton Dalton, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025
Between August 2021 and February 2025, Ronin uncovered 109 landmines and 15 other pieces of unexploded ordnance in a region close to Siem Reap in Cambodia, according to Guinness World Records.
—Lex Harvey, CNN Money, 7 Apr. 2025
The discrepancy between the figures could not be immediately reconciled, though the Houthis could be counting individual pieces of ordnance launched, rather than a single event with multiple bombs used, as ACLED does.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar. 2025
Mary would be working at the Denver Federal Center, a six-hundred-and-twenty-three-acre campus that was originally a livestock ranch and hosted an ordnance plant during the Second World War.
—E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ordnance
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Clayton Dalton, New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2025
Between August 2021 and February 2025, Ronin uncovered 109 landmines and 15 other pieces of unexploded ordnance in a region close to Siem Reap in Cambodia, according to Guinness World Records.
—Lex Harvey, CNN Money, 7 Apr. 2025
The discrepancy between the figures could not be immediately reconciled, though the Houthis could be counting individual pieces of ordnance launched, rather than a single event with multiple bombs used, as ACLED does.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 27 Mar. 2025
Mary would be working at the Denver Federal Center, a six-hundred-and-twenty-three-acre campus that was originally a livestock ranch and hosted an ordnance plant during the Second World War.
—E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ordnance
Cite this Entry
“Ordnance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ordnance. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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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