shock and awe
4
6.3
- noun
- /ʃɑk ənd ɔ/
- Literature
:
impacto y asombro
- During the presentation, the magician aimed to leave the audience in shock and awe with his stunning illusions.
- shock and awe campaign
- shock and awe strategy
- shock and awe bombing
And it's when shock and awe in Iraq, right?
- And it's when shock and awe in Iraq, right?
- So it became more, I call it shock and awe.
- But I, I scored in this, this, this total feeling of shock and awe of like how amazing that felt to score.
- It is shock and awe, which leads us back to several things.
Examples
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We all have to know that this is the shock and awe campaign.
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Imagine if some foreign power came here with shock and awe.
Blog text (14) -
When we attack this tree line, right here, we have to keep them off balance, confused and divided with some shock and awe.
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There is no doubt tonight that war has begun... ...and the Iraqi capital is experiencing shock and awe.
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American military forces began Operation Iraqi Freedom with a vaunted "shock and awe" campaign designed to decapitate the regime while striking a crippling blow at the state itself.
Academic text (2013) -
The military strategy was designed to create shock and awe among enemy forces, showcasing overwhelming power.
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The opening night of the fireworks display brought shock and awe to all who attended, as the sky lit up spectacularly.
How Overwhelming
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase straightforwardly combines the literal meanings of 'shock' (sudden strong surprise/distress) and 'awe' (wonder/fear) to denote an effect or strategy intended to astonish and intimidate; a learner who knows both words can infer this general idea. Although used as a military slogan, the relation is compositional rather than idiomatic, so a B1 learner would typically understand the basic meaning even if they miss some specialized tactical nuance.
Etymology
Shock and awe comes from a military idea of a sudden, very big show of force meant to leave people with shock and awe. That strong image explains why we now use the phrase for a plan of overwhelming actions 'to surprise and scare'.