weapon
part of speech
noun (weapon, weapons)
meaning for a pupil
1) A weapon is something used to hurt or attack, or to defend in a fight, such as a sword, gun, knife or bomb. tree →
2) Anything used to win against something can be called a weapon: her smile was her secret weapon. tree →
sense in the lessons
In history lessons, pupils study weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, swords, cannons and castles' defences. In safety, children learn that real weapons are dangerous: never touch a gun or knife you find, move away and tell an adult; schools do not allow weapons, even toy ones that look real. In science, animals' teeth, claws and stings are «natural weapons». Phrases: secret weapon, deadly weapon, weapons of the Romans.
examples
- Knights carried swords and shields as weapons. tree →
- The Romans used spears and short swords. tree →
- A porcupine's quills are its weapon. tree →
- Weapons are not allowed in school. tree →
- If you find a gun, don't touch it — tell an adult. tree →
- Our goalkeeper is the team's secret weapon. tree →
- Stone Age people made weapons from flint. tree →
- The centipede was invulnerable to weapons! tree →
note
Pronounced «WEP-un». Countable: weapons. Toy weapons are toys, but pointing even a toy gun at strangers or police can be dangerous because they may think it is real.
In the corpora
- "Kinetic action" is US military jargon for a real attack with weapons that kills or destroys.
- "The deterrent" is the British official way to say nuclear weapons, the most destructive bombs ever made.
- "Less-lethal weapon" means a weapon meant not to kill, such as a rubber bullet, which can still kill.
- Never joke about bombs, weapons or threats; it can cause alarm, searches and serious trouble.
- Jokes about bombs or weapons at an airport are treated as real threats, and people can be arrested for them.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «weapon» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.