dreadnought
UK/ˈdɹɛd.nɔːt//ˈdɹɛd.nɔt/
dreadnought noun: a battleship, especially of the World War I era, in which most of the firepower is concentrated in large guns that are of the same caliber.
Noun (1)
dreadnought (plural dreadnoughts)
- A battleship, especially of the World War I era, in which most of the firepower is concentrated in large guns that are of the same caliber.
- Perturbed at being overtaken, the USS Texas is leading the 6th Battle Squadron at 22-and-a-half knots as the engineers pour everything they have into the effort. Behind the colossal clouds of smoke and cinders they put out come a seemingly-endless stream of dreadnoughts, battle flags flying from...2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 18:32 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2022
- Any type of warship heavier in armour or armament than a typical battleship.
- Sovereign is the flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren. An enormous dreadnought larger than any other ship in any known fleet, Sovereign is crewed with both geth and krogan. At two kilometers long, its spinal-mounted main gun is likely capable of penetrating another dreadnought's kinetic barriers...2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Sovereign Codex entry
- One that is the largest or the most powerful of its kind.
- Herbert steering the dreadnought limousine through the night, black cap on his black head.1963, J P Donleavy, A Singular Man, published 1963 (USA), page 278
- A type of acoustic guitar with a very large body and a waist that is less pronounced than on other guitar shapes, producing a deep, bold sound.
- A garment made of thick woollen cloth that can defend against storm and cold.
- "Much obliged to you, ma'am!" says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall.1853, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Bleak House
- The cloth itself; fearnaught.
Noun (2)
dreadnought (plural dreadnoughts)
- One that fears nothing.
- “Lift up your head and your heart, O King. We must follow after this dreadnought, hard on her tracks.”1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 35
- Something that assures against fear.
dreadnought meaning in Arabic, Persian and Thai
dreadnought in Arabic
- battleship
- دريدنوت
dreadnought in Persian
- battleship
- دریدنوت
dreadnought in Thai
- battleship
- เดรดนอต
Examples of dreadnought in a sentence
- Behind the colossal clouds of smoke and cinders they put out come a seemingly-endless stream of dreadnoughts, battle flags flying from every mast and line they can find.2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 18:32 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original...
- An enormous dreadnought larger than any other ship in any known fleet, Sovereign is crewed with both geth and krogan.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Sovereign Codex entry:
Forms of dreadnought
| plural | dreadnoughts |
|---|---|
| alternative form | dreadnaught |
Origin of dreadnought
English HMS Dreadnought English dreadnought Named after HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship finished of this type, itself named for Etymology 2.
From dread + nought.
Words formed from dreadnought
Words that rhyme with dreadnought
Questions about dreadnought
- What does dreadnought mean?
- Dreadnought means a battleship, especially of the World War I era, in which most of the firepower is concentrated in large guns that are of the same caliber.
- What is dreadnought in Arabic?
- Dreadnought in Arabic is دريدنوت. See Dreadnought meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use dreadnought in a sentence?
- Behind the colossal clouds of smoke and cinders they put out come a seemingly-endless stream of dreadnoughts, battle flags flying from every mast and line they can find.
- What part of speech is dreadnought?
- Dreadnought is a noun.
- How do you pronounce dreadnought?
- Dreadnought is pronounced /ˈdɹɛd.nɔːt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of dreadnought?
- The plural of dreadnought is dreadnoughts.
Words near dreadnought in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dreadnought (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dreadnought.wav.
Cite this entry: “dreadnought.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dreadnought. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.