samurai
Americannoun
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a member of the hereditary warrior class in feudal Japan.
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a retainer of a daimyo.
noun
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the Japanese warrior caste that provided the administrative and fighting aristocracy from the 11th to the 19th centuries
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a member of this aristocracy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of samurai
1720–30; < Japanese, earlier samurafi to serve, equivalent to sa- prefix + morafi watchfully wait (frequentative of mor- to guard)
Explanation
Use the noun samurai when you're talking about the elite Japanese warriors who practiced martial arts in pre-industrial Japan. These days you'll only see samurai in movies about Japan, and it's easy to think of them as fictional superheroes. They really did exist, though, and played an important part in Japanese history, as members of the nobility from the tenth century all the way through the 1800s. In Japanese, the word samurai means "warrior or knight."
Vocabulary lists containing samurai
East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - Introductory
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East Asia - High School
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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.
“In Japanese samurai movies, it’s one stroke kills,” RZA said.
From Salon • May 31, 2026
The men dressed up incongruously as samurai warriors, and Riley arranged for the sumo world champion to be there, all 350 pounds of him.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
"One day he stumbles upon a samurai sensei who teaches him...about real discipline and how he can not only protect himself, but protect other people too."
From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026
At the end, we’re left to indulge in our contemporary myths about the samurai, knowing that these are built on far older ones.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026
There are crabs to be found here with curious markings on their backs, patterns and indentations that disturbingly resemble the face of a samurai.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
