Military terminology refers to the

terms Term may refer to: Language *Terminology, context-specific nouns or compound words **Technical term (or ''term of art''), used by specialists in a field ***Scientific terminology, used by scientists *Term (argumentation), part of an argument in d ...

and language of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

organizations,

personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

, and

military doctrine Military doctrine is the expression of how military forces contribute to campaigns, major operations, battles, and engagements. A military doctrine outlines what military means should be used, how forces should be structured, where forces shou ...

. Much like other forms of

corporate jargon Corporate jargon (variously known as corporate speak, corporate lingo, corpo lingo, business speak, business jargon, management speak, workplace jargon, corpospeak, corporatese, or commercialese) is the jargon often used in large corporations, bure ...

, military terminology is distinguishable from colloquial language by its use of new or repurposed words and phrases typically only understandable by current and former members of the military or associated companies and agencies.

Common understanding

The operational pressure for uniform understanding has developed since the early 20th century with the importance of joint operations between different services (army, navy, air force) of the same country. International alliances and operations, including

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...

, have added additional complexity. For example, the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

alliance now maintains a large

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

of common terms for use by member countries. Development work is also taking place between NATO and Russia on common terminology for extended air defence, in English, French and Russian.

Criticism

Some claim military terms serve to depoliticise, dehumanise, or otherwise abstract discussion about its operations from an actual description thereof. Similar to "

legal terminology Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

" and related to "political terminology", military terms are known for an oblique tendency to incorporate

technical language Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

. In many cases, it reflects a need to be precise. It can also reflect a perceived need for

operational security Operations security (OPSEC) is a process that identifies critical information to determine whether friendly actions can be observed by enemy intelligence, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to th ...

, giving away no more information than needed. It can also serve to disguise or distort meaning as with

doublespeak Doublespeak is language that deliberately obscures, disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs and "servicing the target" for bombing), in which case it is ...

. "Kinetic activity" as a

buzzword A buzzword is a word or phrase, new or already existing, that becomes popular for a period of time. Buzzwords often derive from technical terms yet often have much of the original technical meaning removed through fashionable use, being simply ...

for

combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...

, in use since the inception of the War on Terror, has been criticized as a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy for murder.

Notes

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External links

Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the Vietnam War
Military science Warfare

Common understanding

Criticism

See also

Notes

External links