signature strike
signature strike noun: a military attack which is based on detecting suspicious activity rather than confirmed intelligence of terrorism.
Noun
signature strike (plural signature strikes)
- A military attack which is based on detecting suspicious activity rather than confirmed intelligence of terrorism.
- This group of civilians was marked as displaying suspicious behavior and consequently became the victime of a signature strike that killed twenty-three men and wounded twelve others, including a woman and three children.2013, Joseph Pugliese, State Violence and the Execution of Law, →ISBN, page 196
- The United States does not disclose what behaviors justify a signature strike, nor does it provide any guidance on this issue.2014, Peter L. Bergen, Daniel Rothenberg, Drone Wars, →ISBN, page 46
Forms of signature strike
| plural | signature strikes |
|---|
Origin of signature strike
From the justification for such strikes being suspicious patterns of behavior thought to be "signatures" of terrorists.
Questions about signature strike
- What does signature strike mean?
- Signature strike means a military attack which is based on detecting suspicious activity rather than confirmed intelligence of terrorism.
- What part of speech is signature strike?
- Signature strike is a noun.
- What is the plural of signature strike?
- The plural of signature strike is signature strikes.
Words near signature strike in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: signature strike (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “signature strike.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/signature_strike. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.