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noun

containment

a policy of creating strategic alliances in order to check the expansion of a hostile power or ideology or to force it to negotiate peacefully

In a sentence

Three example sentences with containment, each labelled with its topic.

  • Washington built rings of treaties around the Soviet bloc, and containment guided every budget for four decades.

    Politics

  • Kennan's long telegram argued for patient containment rather than either withdrawal or a direct clash of armies.

    History

  • Trade pacts with neighboring states served as economic containment, boxing in a rival whose exports funded its army.

    Economics

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