weapon of mass destruction

First attested in 1937 in referring to bombing campaigns during the Spanish Civil War.

weapon of mass destruction (plural weapons of mass destruction)

Symbols for radiological, biological and chemical, respectively

1. Any human-made weapon causing indiscriminate large-scale death or destruction, especially a biological weapon, chemical weapon, nuclear weapon or radiological weapon.

• WMD (abbreviation)

• NBC (“nuclear, biological and chemical”)
• doomsday weapon
• electromagnetic pulse
• weapon of mass disruption

• Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year