dreadnought

noun

dread·​nought ˈdred-ˌnȯt 

-ˌnät

1

: a warm garment of thick cloth

also : the cloth

2

[Dreadnought, British battleship]

a

: battleship

b

: one that is among the largest or most powerful of its kind

Did you know?

Fear nothing - that is essentially what "dread" plus "nought" means. The name might seem a strange one for a garment, but if you consider that dreadnoughts were worn onboard ships, you can appreciate the colorful name perhaps as much as the seafaring men must have appreciated the thick protection dreadnoughts offered from the elements. The clothes and the cloth, first called "fearnought" in the late 18th century, came long before the battleship. Not until 1906 did the British Navy launch HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship to have a main armament consisting entirely of big guns all of the same caliber. All ships of this type were then called "dreadnoughts." That particular type of battleship soon became obsolete, but their legacy lives on in the extended third sense of "dreadnought."

Synonyms

• behemoth
• blockbuster
• colossus
• dinosaur
• elephant
• giant
• Goliath
• jumbo
• leviathan
• mammoth
• mastodon
• monster
• titan
• whale
• whopper

Examples of dreadnought in a Sentence

poor gas mileage did little to stem the popularity of that dreadnought of the roadways: the SUV

Recent Examples on the Web

Yamaha The guitar rocks a dreadnought shape with a lower cut for higher fret access, and features a Sitka spruce top with mahogany back and sides. —Paul Ridden, New Atlas, 11 Oct. 2024

Michelle Yeoh to Reprise Role from 'Star Trek: Discovery' in New 'Star Trek' Movie: 'Dream Come True' On Discovery, Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) cooked up a creative solution for getting rid of the giant Breen dreadnought ship that loomed nearby. —Jp Mangalindan, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024

So the potential third installment will involve Kora and company tracking her down, while also seeking allies from surrounding planets now that there’s a blueprint for taking down Imperium dreadnoughts. —Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024

But the Pac-12’s once-mighty dreadnought, horribly captained, the geniuses who denied access to Texas and Oklahoma, went down in its own sea of incompetence and arrogance. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Aug. 2023

Can Doukeris change this dreadnought’s direction? —Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 6 Dec. 2021

Available in dreadnought and concert styles. —Lauren Corona, chicagotribune.com, 25 Sep. 2020

What forces have brought this dreadnought to our shores? —Dan Neil, WSJ, 6 Jan. 2022

The Tiffany diamond, a 128.54-carat dreadnought that Lady Gaga wore to the Academy Awards last year, was somewhere else. —James Barron, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2020

Word History

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

dreadnought

noun

dread·​nought ˈdred-ˌnȯt 

-ˌnät

: BATTLESHIP