war machine

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"armed forces, armed services, military, military machineabsence without leave, unauthorized absence - unauthorized military absencepullback - (military) the act of pulling back (especially an orderly withdrawal of troops); "the pullback is expected to be over 25,000 troops"retreat - (military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat; "the disorderly retreat of French troops"standdown, stand-down - (military) a temporary stop of offensive military actionfallback, pullout, disengagement - to break off a military action with an enemyamphibious landing - a military action of coordinated land, sea, and air forces organized for an invasion; "MacArthur staged a massive amphibious landing behind enemy lines"gun - the discharge of a firearm as signal or as a salute in military ceremonies; "two runners started before the gun"; "a twenty gun salute"deactivation, inactivation - breaking up a military unit (by transfers or discharges)countermarch - (military) a march in the reverse direction or back along the same routefly-by, flypast, flyover - a flight at a low altitude (usually of military aircraft) over spectators on the groundsortie - (military) an operational flight by a single aircraft (as in a military operation)troop movement - movement of military units to a new locationwar game - a simulation of a military operation intended to train military commanders or to demonstrate a situation or to test a proposed strategymilitainment - entertainment with military themes in which the Department of Defense is celebrateddemonstration - a show of military force or preparedness; "he confused the enemy with feints and demonstrations"national service - compulsory service in the military during peacetimefatigue duty, fatigue - labor of a nonmilitary kind done by soldiers (cleaning or digging or draining or so on); "the soldiers were put on fatigue to teach them a lesson"; "they were assigned to kitchen fatigues"air cover - the use of military aircraft to provide protection against attack by enemy aircraft during ground or naval operationsmilitary censorship - all types of censorship conducted by personnel of the armed forcesumbrella - a formation of military planes maintained over ground operations or targets; "an air umbrella over England"logistic assessment - a judgment of the logistic support required for some particular military operationdrill - (military) the training of soldiers to march (as in ceremonial parades) or to perform the manual of armsmanual of arms, manual - (military) a prescribed drill in handling a riflemilitary training - training soldiers in military proceduresbasic training - the initial period of training for new military personnel; involves intense physical activity and behavioral disciplinemilitary drill - training in marching and the use of weaponsclose-order drill - (military) military drill of troops in standard marching (shoulder-to-shoulder)square-bashing - drill on a barracks squaremilitary action, action - a military engagement; "he saw action in Korea"battle, engagement, fight, conflict - a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war; "Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga"; "he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement"blockade, encirclement - a war measure that isolates some area of importance to the enemydefense, defensive measure, defence - (military) military action or resources protecting a country against potential enemies; "they died in the defense of Stalingrad"; "they were developed for the defense program"electronic warfare, EW - military action involving the use of electromagnetic energy to determine or exploit or reduce or prevent hostile use of the electromagnetic spectrummilitary operation, operation - activity by a military or naval force (as a maneuver or campaign); "it was a joint operation of the navy and air force"combined operation - a military operation carried out cooperatively by two or more allied nations or a military operation carried out by coordination of sea, land, and air forcespolice action - a local military action without declaration of war; against violators of international peace and orderresistance - the military action of resisting the enemy's advance; "the enemy offered little resistance"maneuver, simulated military operation, manoeuvre - a military training exercisearmed combat, combat - an engagement fought between two military forcesmilitary campaign, campaign - several related operations aimed at achieving a particular goal (usually within geographical and temporal constraints)