weapons of mass destruction

plural noun

1. nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons that can cause indiscriminate death or injury on a large scale WMD

weapons of mass destruction

1. Weapons that can produce devastating results when delivered in a single strike. They include nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

Notes

One of the great challenges of the twenty-first century will be to constrain the proliferation and use of such weapons, especially by terrorists ( see terrorism ).