juggernaut
Americannoun
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any large, overpowering force or object, such as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.
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anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.
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Chiefly British. A large, heavy vehicle, especially a truck.
noun
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a crude idol of Krishna worshipped at Puri and throughout Odisha (formerly Orissa) and Bengal. At an annual festival the idol is wheeled through the town on a gigantic chariot and devotees are supposed to have formerly thrown themselves under the wheels
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a form of Krishna miraculously raised by Brahma from the state of a crude idol to that of a living god
noun
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any terrible force, esp one that destroys or that demands complete self-sacrifice
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a very large lorry for transporting goods by road, esp one that travels throughout Europe
Discover More
A force, an idea, or a system of beliefs that overcomes opposition — especially if it does so ruthlessly — is called a “juggernaut.”
Other Word Forms
- Juggernautish adjective
Etymology
Origin of juggernaut
First recorded in 1630–40, in the sense of an idol of Krishna annually drawn on an enormous cart in Puri, Odisha, India; 1840–45 juggernaut for defs. 1, 2; from Hindi Jagannāth, from Sanskrit Jagannātha- “lord of the world”; Jagannath ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
As football has become a commercial juggernaut, players and clubs have had to learn how to look after their brands.
From BBC
Mr. Amodei turned Anthropic into an AI juggernaut by creating off-the-shelf AI tools for businesses, especially for coding.
The Dodgers are off to a hot start in spring training, but will this team prove to be a juggernaut of the regular season in its quest to win a third straight title?
From Los Angeles Times
His work set a precedent for autonomy and creative control as hip-hop became a commercial juggernaut in the ’90s.
From Los Angeles Times
U.S.-India symbiosis could pay off big in the long term as the 1.5 billion-strong growth juggernaut builds its future on California technology, says Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
