gunboat diplomacy

noun

: diplomacy backed by the use or threat of military force

Examples of gunboat diplomacy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Two centuries later, some classics never go out of style—gunboat diplomacy included. Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025 If the hope is that gunboat diplomacy will encourage Maduro to resign peacefully, the administration should be ramping up talks to seek a credible handover of power. Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 2 Dec. 2025 Close to 200 years after first being used to assert geopolitical dominance, gunboat diplomacy is very much alive and well. Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2025 Trump has already brought back gunboat diplomacy by using the threat of force to coerce other countries into signing treaties on his terms; military threats helped obtain concessions from Canada and Mexico. Oona A. Hathaway, Foreign Affairs, 24 June 2025 We are now being told to believe in an America that can chart its course selfishly—from Greenland to Panama to Canada to Gaza—almost entirely on the basis of a surreal mixture of Manifest Destiny, gunboat diplomacy, and golf resort and tournament planning. Penny Abeywardena, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1869, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of gunboat diplomacy was in 1869

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Cite this Entry

“Gunboat diplomacy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gunboat%20diplomacy. Accessed 7 Jan. 2026.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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