Department of Defense Instruction 5025.12 - establishes overarching policy for DOD usage of the DOD Dictionary.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 5705.01 - establishes policy and
procedures for implementing the DOD Terminology program which includes the DOD Dictionary and the Terminology Repository for DOD (OSD/JS) Issuances, also known as the Repository.
DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms - reflects general and universal terms in joint publication glossaries. Methods to change to the DOD Dictionary are listed in the instructions above. Those who develop policies, strategies, plans, rules, doctrine, and assessments etc. should first access this official resource to determine if terms exist prior to pre-coordination of terms and glossary refinement. Upon accessing the DOD Dictionary authors are advised to next access the Repository to view terms that exist throughout DOD in official senior leadership documents.To search or browse for DOD Dictionary terms or other glossary content, use the DOD Dictionary Search and DOD Dictionary Browse functions at the bottom of this webpage.
Terminology Repository for DOD (OSD/JS) Issuances (Available to CAC users only through JEL+) was established to provide awareness on specific and technical terms and definitions that reside outside the DOD Dictionary (universal and general terms). The Terminology Repository supports the foundation that the DOD Dictionary is the primary military terminology source and reflects terms in unclassified and correctly marked issuances and glossaries. It is recommended that when accessing joint publications or organizational policy documents to review both the DOD Dictionary and Terminology Repository to develop a full understanding of term definitions, descriptions, or usage, and to proceed accordingly. It is also recommended that all glossary developers use the DOD Dictionary criteria in maintaining terms and definitions. The Terminology Repository will be updated per existing policy, however, will not capture abbreviations, acronyms, or initialisms.
NATO Terminology Program
NATOTerm - contains non-classified military terminology, as well as non-military terminology relevant to NATO.
USG Terminology Guide
Interorganizational stakeholders are involved in an on-going effort to identify terms and definitions that impact multiple organizations. End state is a product for organizational planners, authors, subject matter expert developers, strategists, policy-makers, attorneys, and doctrinaires to use in the development of organizational products. Final results to be posted here with notification released on the JEL homepage.