deterrent

UK/dɪˈtɛɹənt/US/dɪˈtɝənt/

nounC2Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,006 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: deterrents

A deterrent is something kept in order to stop an enemy attacking. A nuclear deterrent, act as a deterrent, a deterrent effect.

The whole idea is that it works by never being used, which makes a deterrent almost impossible to prove effective. In everyday use it is anything that puts people off, so a heavy fine is a deterrent to speeding.

Definitions of deterrent

1noundeterrentSomething kept in order to stop an enemy attacking.C2
“Both sides kept nuclear weapons as a deterrent during the Cold War.”

deterrent is a discouragement.

Remember it

deTERrent → it makes them take a DETOUR

Something big enough that the enemy takes a detour instead of coming at you.

hooks ontodetour

Where it comes from

Latin
dēterrēns
English, today
deterrent

Learned borrowing from Latin dēterrēns.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Military & Defence

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deterrent in the wild

Since 1969, the Royal Navy has operated the continuous at-sea deterrent: at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine always on patrol.
Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
Victorious carries the Trident ballistic missile, the UK's nuclear deterrent.
HMS Victorious (S29)
Trident, also known as the Trident nuclear programme or Trident nuclear deterrent, covers the development, procurement and operation of submarine-based nuclear weapons in the United Kingdom.
Trident (UK nuclear programme)
Such deterrents are most commonly used by gardeners, in order to prevent damage to their gardens, to avoid cat feces, or to protect birds.
Cat repeller
Acoustic harassment and acoustic deterrents are technologies used to keep animals and in some cases humans away from an area.
Acoustic harassment device

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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