nonarmed

Nonarmed is an adjective meaning not equipped with weapons or not carrying arms. In English, the more common term is unarmed; nonarmed is primarily found in legal, policy, or descriptive writing and in compound phrases such as nonarmed security personnel or nonarmed protest. The term emphasizes the absence of arms rather than a declared stance against their use, and it is therefore more verbose than simply unarmed.

Usage of nonarmed is relatively rare in everyday language and tends to appear in formal contexts, including international law, security policy, and journalism when a writer wants to specify the weapon-free status of actors without implying a normative stance.

Contexts include security arrangements (nonarmed guards, nonarmed security forces), humanitarian or peacekeeping approaches (nonarmed civilian protection), and disarmament discussions where weapons have been removed or prohibited. In contrast, armed or disarmed describe the presence or removal of weapons.

Related terms include unarmed, disarmed, and nonviolence, as well as fields such as peacebuilding, security studies, and human rights reporting. Nonarmed should not be confused with hyphenated forms like non-armed, which are sometimes used in older or formal text. Overall, nonarmed functions as a descriptor for weapon-free status across settings, while unarmed remains the more prevalent synonym in contemporary use.