mutual assured destruction

Noun

 * 1)  The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear weapons should a potential enemy use them first, both sides being annihilated in the event of war.

Usage notes

 * Google searches (3 April 2009) suggest that the two forms of this expression—mutual ly assured destruction and mutual assured destruction—are roughly equally popular in academic journals and books, but that mutual ly assured destruction is the favored form in general web usage and in news sources.

Translations

 * Arabic: دمار متبادل
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Dutch: gegarandeerde wederzijdse vernietiging
 * Esperanto:
 * Finnish: molemminpuolinen varmistettu tuho
 * French: destruction mutuelle assurée
 * German: Gleichgewicht des Schreckens
 * Hebrew:
 * Hindi:
 * Korean: 상호확증파괴(相互確證破壞)
 * Persian:
 * Polish: wzajemne zagwarantowane zniszczenie
 * Romanian: distrugere reciprocă asigurată
 * Russian: взаимное гарантированное уничтожение
 * Spanish: destrucción mutua asegurada
 * Turkish: karşılıklı kesin yıkım
 * Urdu:
 * Vietnamese: đảm bảo phá huỷ lẫn nhau