dual use
Serves twin purposes
Dual use describes technology, materials, or knowledge that can serve both civilian and military purposes.
Nuclear reactors generate electricity but also produce weapons-grade material.
Drones deliver packages and conduct surveillance.
The term appears frequently in export control discussions, where governments restrict dual-use items to prevent proliferation: dual-use export licenses, dual-use research of concern.
- civilianNon-military person
- militaryArmed forces collectively
- technologyApplied scientific methods
- cutting edgeMost advanced currently available
- exportForeign-bound sale
export control · arms trade · proliferation · nuclear · chemical · biological · weapons · national security · research · ambiguous · gray area · covert · cover story · surveillance · encryption · drone · classified · restricted
- research ethicsresearch ethics, bioethics, ethics board, ethics training, fabrication
- bioethicsbioethics, medical ethics, genetic engineering, beneficence, non-maleficence
- AI ethicsalgorithmic bias, robot rights, AI rights, moral agency, human oversight
dual usesingle-use
For one application only
dedicated · specialized · purpose-built · unitasker · one-trick
dual, use, duel, duality, dualism, dualist, dualistic, dually, duet