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Military & Defence vocabulary · Branches of the Armed Forces

Armed forces

Meaning in military & defence, with examples

/ˌɑːmd ˈfɔːsɪz/nounCore term

In military & defence, armed forces means: All of a country's military services taken together, usually the army, navy and air force, organised and controlled by the state.

In Turkish: silahlı kuvvetler

How it is used

Always plural and usually with 'the': the armed forces, a member of the armed forces. Common in official documents, news and job applications; 'the military' is a slightly less formal synonym.

Example sentences

  1. She served in the armed forces for twelve years before joining a defence company.

  2. The exercise brought together units from all three branches of the armed forces.

Common collocations

  • serve in the armed forces
  • join the armed forces
  • member of the armed forces
  • national armed forces
  • armyThe branch of the armed forces that operates on land; as a unit name, also a very large formation made up of several corps.
  • navyThe branch of the armed forces that operates at sea, with its warships, submarines, naval aircraft and the people who serve in them.
  • air forceThe branch of the armed forces that operates military aircraft and air defence systems and carries out missions in the air.
  • personnelThe people who work for an organisation, especially the members of the armed forces, as opposed to its equipment.

More terms: Branches of the Armed Forces

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