gunboat diplomacy
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Using military power to enforce diplomatic demands
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
sử dụng sức mạnh quân sự để thực thi các yêu cầu ngoại giao
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: naval diplomacy conducted from a gunboat
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The country accused its neighbor of practicing gunboat diplomacy
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “gunboat diplomacy” mean?
Using military power to enforce diplomatic demands Literally: naval diplomacy conducted from a gunboat
Is “gunboat diplomacy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.