dragnet
Syllables: drag·net/ˈdɹeɪ̯ɡˌnɛt/UK/ˈdɹæɡˌnɛt/
dragnet noun: a net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.
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Noun
dragnet (plural dragnets)
- A net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.
- Anchovy dragnets are an important part Korea's fishing sector. Over 99% of catches found in anchovy dragnets are anchovy. Although the annual total catches of anchovy have fluctuated, dragnets catch 55 to 70% of the total annual catch of anchovy. The remaining portion is caught with drift gill nets...2000, Transition to Responsible Fisheries Economic and Policy Implications, OECD Publishing, →ISBN, page 228
- A heightened effort by law enforcement personnel undertaken in order to capture suspects.
- The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives.[…]who, if anyone, is policing their use[?] Such concerns were sharpened further by the continuing revelations about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been using algorithms to help it interpret...2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26
Verb
dragnet (third-person singular simple present dragnets, present participle dragnetting, simple past and past participle dragnetted)
- To drag a net across the bottom of a body of water.
- When ponds are cleaned out periodically, fish are trapped or dragnetted and finally the pond is drained to remove all fish.2013, Brian Andrews, Ornamental Fish Farming
- To undertake a heightened effort to catch a suspect.
- In fact, Carty was not the man, but, after a police swoop had dragnetted twenty men suspected of having taken part in the business, he was lodged in Sligo jail and accused of this violence to the lady.2010, Florence O'Donoghue, IRA Jailbreaks 1918-1921, →ISBN, page 164
- A May Day anti-capitalist protest last year in Seattle saw clashes between police and protesters, and the FBI had been dragnetting potential anarchists.2013 September 19, Audrey Black, “Targeting Oppression”, in Eugene Weekly
dragnet meaning in Urdu, Arabic and Malay
dragnet in Urdu
- کھینچ واں جال, شبکہ
dragnet in Arabic
- net dragged across the bottom
- شبكة šabaka
dragnet in Malay
- net dragged across the bottom
- pukat
Forms of dragnet
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dragnets |
| alternative form | drag-net |
| alternative form | drag net |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dragnets |
| present participle | dragnetting |
| past participle | dragnetted |
| past | dragnetted |
Origin of dragnet
From drag + net, probably based on the model of Middle English draynet, dreynett (“dragnet”), Old English dræġnet, dræġnett (“dragnet”), equivalent to dray + net. Cognate with Swedish dragnät, Norwegian dragnett, from Icelandic dragnet.
Words formed from dragnet
Phrases with dragnet
Questions about dragnet
- What does dragnet mean?
- Dragnet means a net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.
- What is dragnet in Urdu?
- Dragnet in Urdu is کھینچ واں جال, شبکہ. See Dragnet meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is dragnet?
- Dragnet can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce dragnet?
- Dragnet is pronounced /ˈdɹæɡˌnɛt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dragnet?
- The plural of dragnet is dragnets.
Words near dragnet in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dragnet (page history and authors); dragnet (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dragnet.wav.
Cite this entry: “dragnet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dragnet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.