surgical strike

English

Noun

surgical strike (plural surgical strikes)

1. (military, weaponry) A military attack of closely-controlled scope on a highly specific target.
   • 1983, James C. H. Shen, “Rejoining the Government”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39:

     Kennedy at the time was greatly concerned over reports that the Chinese Communists were secretly conducting nuclear explosions at Lop Nor in Northwest China—a sure indication they were working on atomic weapons. This was the period when Moscow and Peking were still close to each other, otherwise it might have been possible for the United States to devise a way to neutralize Peking's nuclear potential at an early stage. At their meeting Kennedy asked Chen many questions about Lop Nor. Could he have been thinking of a preventive surgical strike?

   • 2017 August 10, Ashok Sharma, “AP Explains: 70 years of India-Pakistan tensions unresolved”, in AP News‎^[2], archived from the original on 02 October 2022‎^[3]:

     Months later, Modi ordered a surgical strike on alleged insurgents inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, and vowed to isolate Islamabad diplomatically.

Further reading

• “surgical strike”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “surgical strike”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “surgical strike”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “surgical strike” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.