Dearmed

Dearmed is an adjective meaning deprived of weapons or rendered weaponless. The term is formed from the prefix de- (removal or reversal) and armed, and it denotes a state in which weapons have been removed from a person, group, or location. In modern usage, dearmed is relatively uncommon compared with more widespread terms such as disarmed, disarmament, or demilitarized.

Usage typically appears in two broad senses. First, it can describe individuals or groups who have voluntarily or forcibly surrendered their weapons, as in reference to a dearmed militia or dearmed security forces. Second, it can describe places or zones where weapons have been removed or prohibited, such as a dearmed checkpoint or a dearmed zone. In both senses, dearmed emphasizes the resulting condition of being weapon-free rather than the process of removal itself.

In comparison with related terms, disarm or disarmed is the more widely used verb and tends to focus on the act or capability of removing arms from persons or entities. Demilitarization and disarmament refer to broader policy aims or treaties that reduce overall military capacity. Dearmed is therefore more likely to appear in descriptive, transitional, or fictional contexts rather than formal treaty language.

See also: disarmament, demilitarization, disarm, disarmed, deweaponization.