ammunition
ammunition Lexical Profile
ammunition Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A supply or quantity of bullets, shells, cartridges, or other projectiles designed to be discharged from firearms or artillery.
"Archaeologists uncovered a cache of nineteenth-century brass ammunition buried beneath the old fort's floorboards."
Facts, arguments, or evidence that can be used to support one's position or attack an opponent's case in a debate or dispute.
"The newly released audit report gave the oversight committee plenty of ammunition during the budget hearings."
Word Nuance & Usage
'Ammunition' is an uncountable mass noun in modern English and does not take a plural form or the indefinite article 'an'; to quantify it, use expressions such as 'a round of ammunition' or 'supplies of ammunition'.
• Rhymes for ammunition
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the mid-17th century from dialectical French 'amunition', a rebracketing of 'la munition' (taken as 'l'amunition'), ultimately from Latin 'munitio' meaning 'a fortifying' or 'defense', from 'munire' ('to fortify').