germ warfare
4
6.8
- noun
- /dʒɜrm ˈwɔrˌfɛr/
- NSFW
:
guerra biológica
- Countries contemplating germ warfare deliberately create germs which have maximum deleterious impact.
Countries contemplating germ warfare deliberately create germs which have maximum deleterious impact.
- Countries contemplating germ warfare deliberately create germs which have maximum deleterious impact.
Examples
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And yet what we have taking shape in the United States today is the costliest, most grandiose germ warfare research program ever attempted.
Academic text (2007) -
University of Maryland's Leitenberg, a long-time authority in the arms control field, contends the government is not developing germ warfare weapons.
Academic text (2007) -
Please also read the Guardian article which describes how the British military have tested germ warfare on its own people in the past.
Blog text (8) -
I headed one of D.O.D.'s early germ warfare projects.
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Project BioShield is a $5.6 billion plan under which the Department of Homeland Security is stockpiling vaccines and drugs to fight anthrax, smallpox, and other germ warfare agents.
Academic text (2007) -
Countries contemplating germ warfare deliberately create germs which have maximum deleterious impact.
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We think of 'poison gas' and germ warfare and call these weapons 'horrible.'
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But a more pressing question remained: Which enemy was conducting germ warfare against us?
Synonyms
10
6.1
Using germs or poisons as weapons to harm people, animals and plants and contaminate food and water
To use germs as weapons to make people sick or die
How Harmful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the use of bacteria or other microorganisms as weapons' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'germ' (microscopic organism causing illness) with 'warfare' (methods or conduct of war): it is simply a type of warfare specified by its agent. This modifier+noun compounding follows a common cross-linguistic pattern (compare 'biological warfare' or 'chemical warfare'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Germ warfare comes from the simple idea of using germs, tiny living things like bacteria, as weapons in warfare, causing illness to hurt the enemy. So, it means 'the use of disease to harm people during war'.