adjective

• 1Equipped with or carrying a firearm or firearms.

  ‘heavily armed troops’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Some 3,000 car-jackings occur every month carried out by people armed with semi-automatic weapons.’
  • ‘If we wished to make war, we certainly would not want to fight soldiers armed with blades such as these.’
  • ‘The Bill will see the same power extended to troops, armed with even more deadly weapons, operating under conditions of serious unrest.’
  • ‘The proportion of troops armed with more accurate, but slower firing, rifles remained low.’
  • ‘Trucks began speeding towards them, carrying men armed with guns and more grenades.’
  • ‘They could scarcely have realised it at the time, but the 12-year-old schoolboy and his father were treading the same path as hunters armed with lethal firearms.’
  • ‘Most days a crowd of desperate Afghans try to cross the fairy castle-like gate, only to find themselves beaten back by Pakistani soldiers armed with sticks.’
  • ‘No one in West Yorkshire Police will be prosecuted over the shooting of a former soldier armed with an airgun, it was announced yesterday.’
  • ‘He said any police intervention was likely to have a dire effect because some of the squatters were now armed with automatic firearms.’
  • ‘The Chinese had brought new tactics to the battlefield for directing mass peasant armies armed with crossbows.’
  • ‘They involved massive land armies armed with improved types of tanks, artillery and aviation.’
  • ‘A teenager and a seven-year-old boy were injured as 50 men armed with sticks, bottles and baseball bats fought a pitched battle in a Bolton street.’
  • ‘Then an open truck drives by carrying eight armed soldiers.’
  • ‘Soldiers armed with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers lined the roads into the village.’
  • ‘Looking up, he saw a duo of guards and an armed robot down the hall.’
  • ‘In Gujranwala, the marathon armed vigilantes hurled petrol bombs and attacked the participants.’
  • ‘They knew that some of the people inside of this settlement were armed, and perhaps prepared to use those arms.’
  • ‘This brought the majority of the crew onto the main deck, many armed, all alarmed.’
  • ‘Today, it turns out that the surveillance team had concluded that de Menezes was not a threat - that he was not about to detonate a bomb, was not armed and was not acting suspiciously.’
  • ‘The armed separatist group placed bombs on two high-tension electricity towers run by grid operator Red Electrica.’
  • ‘Up to 15 customers plus members of staff ran from the restaurant after the manager raised the alarm as an armed response team, called by another police officer, arrived on the scene.’
  • ‘What makes Hemopure so attractive to military officials is that, during armed conflict, blood supplies can run low.’

  Synonyms

  fighting, service, army, armed, defence, warrior, soldierly, soldier-like, martial

  1. 1.1Involving the use of firearms.
     ‘armed robbery’
     More example sentences

     • ‘The use of firearms in an armed robbery has declined in recent years, and at the same time there has been a dramatic increase in the use of other weapons, particularly knives, but also syringes.’
     • ‘The number of reported sexual assaults rose by 150 per cent and the number of armed robberies using firearms was up 67 per cent.’
     • ‘Police believe banning sales of replica guns will lead to a drop in armed robberies and firearms incidents.’
     • ‘A 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnap, handling stolen goods and firearms offences.’
     • ‘A young shop assistant spoke of his relief today after being cleared of stealing ￡10,000 following an armed robbery at a Southampton post office.’
     • ‘And then why did you commit four more armed robberies?’
     • ‘We weren't really prepared for armed confrontation, so we decided to find another trail.’
     • ‘You think the looting, rape and armed terror that emerged within hours in New Orleans couldn't happen elsewhere?’
     • ‘The essential issue has been the preservation of the ability to resort to armed terror, while limiting their opponents' capacity to respond in kind.’
     • ‘As a result, preparing for armed conflict is no longer only a matter of simply assembling battlefield strength to destroy defined adversaries.’
     • ‘Last month Batasuna, a banned party seen as Eta's political wing proposed a new formula for peace talks with the government, raising hopes that Eta might be prepared to end its armed struggle.’
     • ‘In private but not in public, Fargo told the Chinese his command was prepared to use armed force to help defend Taiwan if the president so ordered.’
     • ‘Its comrades argued openly for their ideas, but at the same time there was a clandestine organisation, assisted by the Russian Red Army, preparing for armed struggle.’
     • ‘There were mutterings of suing for peace - but as Britons prepared for an armed invasion, intelligence sources abroad detected that their worst fears may not be realised.’
     • ‘Did the rush to recognise independence for Croatia and Slovenia in 1991 prepare the way for armed conflict or not?’
     • ‘Mr. Clinton expanded on the law-enforcement theme, signaling that terrorists need not fear an armed response.’
     • ‘Firearms police are better prepared than ever to face the terrifying threat of an armed incident.’
     • ‘Confusing cinematic spectacle with the horrors and necessities of armed conflict signals an end to our ability to discern truth.’
     • ‘Reacting to the momentum of events, Lenin, from hiding, ordered preparations for an armed insurrection.’

• 2Heraldry
  Having claws, a beak, etc. of a specified tincture.

  More example sentences

  • ‘a lion rampant argent, armed and langued azure’