: 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.
Yet the White House may be reaching the limits of its gunboat diplomacy.—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 26 Feb. 2026 Few Trump supporters, however, cast their ballots for international adventurism and gunboat diplomacy.—Jonathan Lemire, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2026 Are the President’s intentions actually colonial, or more simply a hostage-taking kind of gunboat diplomacy?—Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 6 Jan. 2026 Rubio’s gunboat diplomacy cannot guarantee that Rodriguez can hold on to power, or that an armed opposition won’t rise and demand democracy or install a new dictator.—Chris Tomlinson, Houston Chronicle, 6 Jan. 2026 On its face, the president’s Dec. 16 announcement was textbook gunboat diplomacy.—Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 23 Dec. 2025 Two centuries later, some classics never go out of style—gunboat diplomacy included.—Newsweek Editors, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2025 The classic logic of gunboat diplomacy endured, but it was increasingly hedged by law, alliance relations and fear of nuclear escalation.—Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2025