red team

noun

An independent group employed to challenge an organization by assuming an adversarial role or point of view.

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Meanings

nounred team (plural red teams)

plural red teams

  1. An independent group employed to challenge an organization by assuming an adversarial role or point of view.
verbred team (third-person singular simple present red teams, present participle red teaming, simple past and past participle red teamed)

present singular third person red teams · participle present red teaming · participle past red teamed · past red teamed · alternative red-team

  1. transitiveTo challenge an organization by assuming an adversarial role.

    Operationally, fielded systems are red teamed by the Air Force Information Warfare Center (AFIWC) under the Air Force's Computer Security Assessment Program (CSAP).

    1998, Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, page 218
    1 more example

    […]Senator Diane Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, aptly characterized the alternative analyses applied to the bin Laden intelligence: “They red-teamed it, and red-teamed it, and red-teamed it.”

    2015, Micah Zenko, Red Team: How to Succeed By Thinking Like the Enemy, Hachette UK, →ISBN

Origin

Red was the color of the Soviet Union on maps during the Cold War, so "red team" represented the adversary during military simulations.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

red team. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20team

MLA

“red team.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20team. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “red team,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/red%20team.

Source: red team on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.