the.com/firepower

The polite military word for how much damage you can legally threaten.

means The amount of destructive force—measured in weapons, ammunition, or capability—that a military unit, weapon system, or nation can bring to bear.

from A straightforward 20th-century compound of 'fire' (as in weapons discharge, a sense of 'fire' dating back to early firearms) and 'power.' It emerged from military and artillery terminology in the early 1900s, formalizing a way to quantify combat strength, and later drifted into general use for any overwhelming capacity to act forcefully — a boxer's punch, a debate team's arguments, a company's market muscle.

origin
Coined to compare naval guns, not armies
corporate use
Now means budget, not bullets
paradox
Having it rarely means you must use it
misuse
Often confused with accuracy, which matters more
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