military machine
7
4.0
- noun
- /ˈmɪlɪˌtɛri məˈʃin/
:
máquina militar
- Europe should never rely solely on the U.S. military machine, and it must have a credible military instrument if it wants to be taken seriously by Washington.
- Soviet military machine
- Iraqi military machine
And he would he had a France that had been vitalized by the French Revolution and turned essentially into a military machine.
- And he would he had a France that had been vitalized by the French Revolution and turned essentially into a military machine.
Examples
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The military machine that brought Europe to its knees was just a plan then.
Blog text (6) -
New packages of sanctions are needed constantly, every week until the Russian military machine stops.
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From this point on, we become a machine, a tight military machine.
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But America can't afford the military machine it maintains today.
Blog text (12) -
Significantly, Israel has built a mighty military machine that has been successful in overcoming many military threats.
Academic text (2013) -
Despite its crippled economy, North Korea retains a formidable military machine.
Academic text (2005) -
The most powerful and well-funded military machine in the history of the world isn't adequately supplying its troops in the field.
Academic text (2004) -
Not only did Moscow watch from the sidelines as the Iraqi military machine that it had largely created was destroyed, but it gave Washington the green light to proceed.
Academic text (1991) -
The Khitan, as Fu explained, had not only adopted Chinese institutions including government organizations, legal regulations, language, and literature, but also possessed a formidable military machine that the Song lacked.
Academic text (2018) -
During the two world wars, each nation's military machine was put to the ultimate test.
Synonyms
∞
2.7
A group of soldiers who fight for and protect a country
190
2.3
The military groups of a country, like the army, navy and air force
14
5.1
A nation's organized armed forces and weapons used for fighting
9
3.0
The military groups of a country, like the army, navy, and air force
How Powerful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'military' (relating to armed forces) with 'machine' used metaphorically to mean an efficient, organized apparatus; the resulting sense of a coordinated, powerful armed system is directly inferable from the parts. The organizational 'machine' metaphor is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely understand this MWE.
Etymology
Military machine may come from the image of a big, smoothly running machine where many parts work together under strict control and the military is like those parts. So this picture explains why the phrase means a powerful, organized 'system' able 'to wage war'.