arms race

noun

: a race between hostile nations to accumulate or develop weapons

broadly : an ever escalating race or competition

Examples of arms race in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This has created an arms race in major college football that has turned off many fans, despite the benefit to players. — Arkansas Online, 6 Oct. 2026

Efforts to curb the distribution and use of opioids have since resulted in an arms race between drug manufacturers and surveillance programs. — New Atlas, 30 Sep. 2026

Even before that, powerful models like Anthropic’s Mythos created an arms race to advance AI cybersecurity, and even lighter-weight models have allowed human bad actors to supercharge their hacking efforts. — Hayden Field, The Verge, 28 Sep. 2026

Trump has been a champion of AI, often warning that the United States must remain ahead of China in the technological arms race. — ABC News, 28 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1921, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for arms race

• abase
• airspace
• apace
• backspace
• biface
• birthplace
• blackface
• boldface
• bookcase
• braincase
• briefcase
• carcase