What’s the difference between munitions and ordnance?
I googled but the results were shit of course. I’m now more confused than before I googled.
One of my top results was at a word reference site. This was the “answer”.
Please give us a sentence in which you might use these words. Tell us something about the situation you are describing. We call this information ‘context’. It is required with every question.
‘Munitions’ usually refers to the things being shot out of a weapon, i.e. bullets, bombs, missiles (in NATO terminology, ‘munitions’ specifically means explosives, as opposed to bullets.)
‘Ordnance’ refers to heavy weapons generally, mainly artillery pieces, but also sometimes to smaller weapons like mortars and portable missile launchers, and confusingly in some cases also the shells and missiles they fire. You would never usually refer to smaller weapons like pistols or rifles as ‘ordnance’ unless you were being ironic.
So - teargas canisters used against protestors would be munitions and not ordnance?
Yup
