DictionaryAI

armed

ARMD/ɑɹmd/UKAHMD/ɑːmd/

7 meanings of armed

Practice

  1. 1
    carrying weaponsadjectivein compounds
    Carrying a weapon, especially a gun, or equipped for fighting.

    The convoy traveled with an armed escort through the conflict zone.

    Rebels seized the depot and slipped away heavily armed.

    UsageOften armed with a weapon, heavily armed, armed and dangerous. Before a noun, compounds usually take a hyphen: a nuclear-armed state.

    Note

    Two words share this spelling. This one is the verb arm, "to equip with a weapon," plus -ed. The armed of having limbs comes instead from the arm of the body.

  2. 2
    verb
    Simple past and past participle of arm, naming the act of arming someone or something rather than the state of being armed.

    The government armed the resistance with surplus equipment.

    Within days, the rebels had armed thousands of volunteers with rifles taken from the barracks.

    UsageUsually arm someone with something: they armed the volunteers with rifles. Also used figuratively: she armed herself with the facts.

    Note

    In the active voice it reports an action, usually followed by with: they armed the volunteers with rifles; figuratively, she armed herself with the facts. It also covers readying an alarm. The passive sits very close to the adjective for carrying weapons, so "the guards were armed" can report an action or describe a state.

  3. 3
    adjective
    Prepared for use and ready to operate; loaded.

    The missile sat fully armed in its silo for years.

    Technicians confirmed the warhead was armed before launch.

    UsageThe opposite is disarmed; people arm or disarm a bomb, a warhead or an alarm system.

    Similarprimed, live, loaded

    Oppositeinert

  4. 4
    with limbsadjectivein compounds
    Having arms, or parts like arms such as branches, usually of a stated number or kind.

    Many Hindu deities are depicted as multi-armed, each hand holding a symbol.

    The new mechanical loader is single-armed, lifting one pallet at a time.

    UsageUsually joined by a hyphen to a number or describing word: one-armed, five-armed, long-armed.

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    adjectiveobsolete
    Having an attachment or other feature that increases its strength, force, or efficiency.
    a distemper eminently armed from heaven
    1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year
    Note

    This is an older, figurative stretch of the word, in which the arming is any added power rather than a weapon. Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) calls a disease "a distemper eminently armed from heaven," and in William Herschel's 1785 catalogue of double stars "the armed eye" is the eye at the finder, set against the naked eye. Today equipped or aided does this work, so keep armed in this sense for echoes of older prose.

    Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  2. 6
    adjective
    Bearing prickles or thorns on its stems, leaves, or other parts.
  3. 7
    adjective
    In heraldry, having the horns, claws, teeth, or beak depicted in a tincture different from that of the rest of the creature.

armed is a form of arm

arm, verb: To supply a person, group or force with weapons, or to take up weapons yourself, in readiness for fighting. Full entry

Forms
armarms he/she/itarming -ing formarmed past tense, past participle
Spelling
arm → armed: add -ed
Sound
The ending sounds like /d/.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of armed apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3, 5

From the verb arm ("to equip with a weapon") combined with the suffix -ed.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  • Armed derives from the verb arm, meaning "to equip with a weapon," plus the suffix -ed. en.wiktionary.org
Meaning 4

From arm ("the upper limb of the body") combined with the suffix -ed.

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

  • Armed, in its body-part sense, is formed from arm meaning the upper limb of the body plus the suffix -ed. en.wiktionary.org