armed

adjective

Simple meaning

Having an arm or arms, often of a specified number or type.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

ahrmd

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɑɹmd

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

chiefly in combination
Having an arm or arms, often of a specified number or type.
sometimes in combination
Equipped, especially with a weapon.
of a personspecifically
Equipped with a gun.
Having arms or arms as specified; used especially in combination
of a creature
Possessing arms of a specified number or type.
of a weapon
Prepared for use; loaded.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: B1 · Intermediate
Frequency: Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Having an arm or arms, often of a specified number or type.

Used this way, armed is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use armed

“The security guard was armed with a flashlight and a two-way radio.”adjective

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

armed forcewell armedheavily armedarmed resistancefully armedarmed intervention

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

armed bullheadnounCompound term
Northern Atlantic sea poacher.
armed combatnounCompound term
An engagement fought between two military forces.
armed forcesnounCompound term
The military forces of a nation.
armed forces censorshipnounCompound term
Military censorship of personal communications to or from persons in the armed forces.
armed forces daynounCompound term
The 3rd Saturday in May.
armed islamic groupnounCompound term
A terrorist organization of Islamic extremists whose violent activities began in 1992.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

Sense: having an arm or arms

unarmed

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.