shock and awe
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈʃɒk(ə)nd ˈɔː/
ipa: /ˈʃɑk(ə)nd ˈɔ/
ipa: /ˈʃɑk(ə)nd ˈɑ/
rhymes: -ɔː
Etymology: Coined by American defence strategists Harlan Kenneth Ullman (born 1941) and James P. Wade, Jr., in Shock and Awe (1996): see the quotation. The term gained greater public attention during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by US troops.
Senses: examples: text: To affect the will of the adversary, Rapid Dominance will apply a variety of approaches and techniques to achieve the necessary level of Shock and Awe at the appropriate strategic and military leverage points. […] Flowing from the primary concentration on affecting the adversary's will to resist through imposing a regime of Shock and Awe to achieve strategic aims and military objectives, four characteristics emerge that will define the Rapid Dominance military force.
ref: 1996, Harlan K[enneth] Ullman, James P. Wade [et al.], “Prologue”, in Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance, [Washington, D.C.]: Center for Advanced Concepts and Technology, →ISBN, archived from the original on 29 Aug 2017, page xii:
text: WWE and WCW gussied up the ritual with a lot of shock-and-awe pyrotechnics and the most innovative use of video graphics this side of MTV. Not so Extreme Championship Wrestling.
ref: 2006, Thomas Hackett, Slaphappy: Pride, Prejudice, and Professional Wrestling, New York, NY: HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 22:
text: The shock and awe that a human being could inspire navigating a stage with such effortless yet almost supernatural command (not for nothing did legends Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly congratulate Michael [Jackson] on his dancing) vaulted Jackson and Thriller to a new level of prominence.
ref: 2008 February 15, Ken Tucker, “‘Thriller’: Can’t Beat It”, in Entertainment Weekly, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2015:
text: Photos, film, documentation of the city [Hiroshima, Japan] had been confiscated and censored almost immediately after Japan surrendered, and the only indelible image of the bombing was the power of the bomb itself: the "shock and awe" version of the mushroom cloud.
ref: 2010 August 5, Rahna Reiko Rizzuto, “Hiroshima: The Lesson We Never Learned”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 24 Dec 2010:
text: One expression above all others has become associated with the invasion of Iraq – "shock and awe". Developed at the Pentagon in the mid-1990s, "shock and awe" was a doctrine designed to leave the enemy so demoralised and disoriented that its will to resist crumbled. In popular parlance it has come to mean the application of overwhelming force, the effective obliteration of the enemy, and for many the term "shock and awe" has come to epitomise the crudeness of the American assault on Iraq.
ref: 2013 March 19, Richard Sanders, “The myth of ‘shock and awe’: Why the Iraqi invasion was a disaster”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2017:
text: In defense of moderation, he proposed simply stomping out religious radicals. (In American terms: shock and awe, rather than hearts and minds.)
ref: 2018 November 3, Hassan Hassan, “The Arab Winter Is Coming”, in The Atlantic:
text: [The surveillance capitalists] specialize in displays of instrumentarianism’s unique brand of shock and awe, leaving onlookers dazed, uncertain, and helpless.
ref: 2018, Shoshana Zuboff, chapter 14, in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism:
text: “This is ‘shock and awe,’” he said. “Truss, Kwarteng, and the people around them think they had to act quickly. The longer they wait, the more the resistance will build up.”.
ref: 2022 September 27, Mark Landler, quoting Jonathan Portes, “Truss Takes a Bold Economic Gamble. Will It Sink Her Government?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: They used the break well. England emerged sharper for the second half. Abby Dow had already seen a try wiped off for a forward pass by Kildunne, shortly before a shock-and-awe line-out drive, powered by 10 of the team and covering 22m, ended with Cokayne dotting down.
ref: 2025 September 20, Mike Henson, “Kildunne stars as England see off France to make final”, in BBC Sport:
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: A doctrine based on the use of spectacular displays of force.
Synonyms: rapid dominance