flagship
Americannoun
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flagships
plural
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a ship carrying the flag officer or the commander of a fleet, squadron, or the like, and displaying the officer's flag.
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the main vessel of a shipping company.
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any of the best or largest ships or airplanes operated by a passenger line.
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the best or most important one of a group or system.
This store is the flagship of our retail chain.
adjective
noun
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a ship, esp in a fleet, aboard which the commander of the fleet is quartered
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the most important ship belonging to a shipping company
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a single item from a related group considered as the most important, often in establishing a public image
the nine o'clock news is the flagship of the BBC
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of flagship
Explanation
Traditionally, the commander of a navy traveled in the flagship, which was distinguished by flying his distinctive flag. You can also call the ship in the front of a fleet the flagship. The flagship is generally the most powerful in some way — better armed, or larger, than the ships that follow it. Ultimately, the most important thing about a flagship is that it's first. Based on this meaning, another kind of flagship is something that's the first, best, or biggest example of something — a product, store, or program, for example. Starbucks' enormous flagship coffee shop, the company's largest and fanciest shop, is in Seattle, Washington.
Vocabulary lists containing flagship
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.
See Examples For:
The e-bike startup, called Also, was incubated within Rivian before launching publicly last year with a $3,500 flagship product.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
Hammond is probably best-known for his time on Top Gear, which was revived in 2002, and went on to become one of the BBC's flagship shows at the time.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Many of the kingdom’s marquee, international-facing gatherings have been affected, including the World Petroleum Congress, a summit between the European Union and Persian Gulf nations, and the government’s flagship investment conference, the Future Investment Initiative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Last month, Google finally released a new version of its flagship AI model, months after CEO Sundar Pichai had said to expect it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
The majority of the French ships made it to Fort Caroline, but on the way, disaster struck when Ribault’s flagship, La Trinité, and three other vessels were caught in a vicious storm and sank.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Within hours, 43 new products seen on the runway were available to buy online and in Gucci’s main flagships across Europe and Japan, as well as in a significant number of U.S. stores.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Once completed, Trump said the armed vessels would be equipped to carry hypersonic and "extremely lethal" weapons, and would be the flagships of the US Navy.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2025
From glamorous flagships like the Ace Hotel to locals-only dives like Hank’s, downtown has lost a lot of the places that made it such a compelling place to live and party.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025
As many reports have pointed out, PBS and NPR, along with their news flagships, “PBS NewsHour” and “All Things Considered,” will not disappear.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2025
Choosing his opening, Phormio flew the signal for attack and rammed one of the flagships of the Corinthian fleet.
From A History of Sea Power by William Oliver Stevens
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
