arsenal

noun

ar·​se·​nal ˈärs-nəl 

ˈär-sə-

1

a

: an establishment for the manufacture or storage of arms and military equipment

The city is home to a federal arsenal.

b

: a collection of weapons

2

: store, repertoire

the team's arsenal of veteran players

Synonyms

• armory
• depot
• dump
• magazine

Examples of arsenal in a Sentence

The city is home to a federal arsenal.

Doctors have a broad arsenal of medicines to choose from.

the team's arsenal of veteran players

Recent Examples on the Web

General aviation airports are one of the most important tools in the Cal Fire arsenal. —John Carr, The Mercury News, 9 Feb. 2025

The five official nuclear powers of the United States, Britain, France, Russian, and China have been joined by India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea, though only Israel is thought likely to have hydrogen bombs in its arsenal. —David Szondy, New Atlas, 6 Feb. 2025

In early 2024, Prime Video enabled advertising by default, expanding the inventory in Amazon’s arsenal. —Todd Spangler, Variety, 6 Feb. 2025

Upon being placed in cuffs, the FBI discovered 16 kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of heroin, fentanyl pills, an arsenal of firearms including multiple pistols, a rifle, and $1,500,000 in cash. —Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 5 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

earlier, "dockyard for the construction and repair of naval vessels," borrowed from Middle French archenal, arsenail, arsenal (in reference to the naval dockyard of Venice), borrowed (with conformation of the final to -al -al entry 2) from Upper Italian (Venice) arzanà, presumably alteration (by metanalysis, with the initial taken as the preposition d', di "from") of darsenà (attested in Genoese, earlier in Medieval Latin as darsena, darsana), borrowed from Arabic dār al-ṣināʽa "place of manufacture," from dār "house" + al "the" (assimilated to aṣ) + ṣināʽa "manufacture" (derivative of ṣanaʽa "to make")

Note: Forms with final -ale (as arsenale, arzanale, arzenale) are attested in Italian in the sixteenth century and may be the immediate source of the English word. The French forms with -al may reflect these, though attested about a century earlier. As arzanà the Venetian word is attested in the text of Dante's Inferno ("nell'arzanà de' Viniziani," XXI, 7).

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

arsenal

noun

ar·​se·​nal ˈärs-nəl 

-ᵊn-əl

1

: a place for the manufacture or storage of arms

2

: a collection of weapons