Designed to defend against or shoot down aircraft; a weapon or system that does this.
Compound of 'anti-' and 'aircraft' (itself a 20th-century coinage). This term emerged during World War I when air combat became a major military concern, making the need for this compound urgent.
Antiaircraft guns became a defining feature of 20th-century warfare—entire cities had antiaircraft defenses—and this word shows how quickly languages create compounds to name new technologies and threats that didn't exist before.
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