axes of evil

Noun

axis of evil (plural axes of evil)

1. A group of states accused by George W. Bush of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction, originally defined as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.
   • I discussed Iraq with Gerhard during his visit to the White House on January 31, 2002. In my State of the Union address two days earlier, I had outlined the threats posed by Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. “States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten...2010, George W. Bush, Decision Points, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 233
2. An anomaly in the temperature of the cosmic microwave background as the result of a preferential axis which may have shaped the development of the universe.

   Synonyms:

   AOE