Etymology

shock and awe

Today it means: A doctrine based on the use of spectacular displays of force. Full definition →

First used 1996
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The story

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.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1996 A doctrine based on the use of spectacular displays of force.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.