arsenal

American  

[ahr-suh-nl, ahrs-nuhl] / ˈɑr sə nl, ˈɑrs nəl /

noun

• arsenals
  plural

1. a place of storage or a magazine containing arms and military equipment for land or naval service.

2. a government establishment where military equipment or munitions are manufactured.

3. a collection or supply of weapons or munitions.

4. a collection or supply of anything; store.

   He came to the meeting with an impressive arsenal of new research data.

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arsenal British  

/ ˈɑːsənəl /

noun

1. a store for arms, ammunition, and other military items

2. a workshop or factory that produces munitions

3. a store of anything regarded as weapons

   an arsenal of destructive arguments

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arsenals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of arsenal

1500–10; (< Middle French ) < Italian arzanale < Upper Italian ( Venetian ) arzanà dockyard < Arabic dār ṣināʿah workshop (literally, house of handwork); initial d probably taken as a form of the preposition di from

Explanation

An arsenal is a storehouse for weapons. It wouldn't be wise to let your enemies get a hold of the keys to your arsenal. Not just a place to store weapons, an arsenal can be a place to make weapons or it can mean the collection of weapons themselves: "The air force had just added two top-secret fighter planes to its arsenal." In a more general sense, the word can be a collection of anything used as a weapon, not just military weapons: "She had a whole arsenal of witty comebacks for the lame pickup-lines guys tried out on her."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arsenal arsenals

She implemented wry wit like a tactical defense, a trusty tool in her arsenal that could disarm an opponent and defuse tricky conversations.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

Per the Journal, the hard-liners who occupy the country’s key military posts have focused on rebuilding their missile and drone arsenal.

From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026

For example, the updated report estimates that the U.S. has expended 1,060-1,430 Patriot missiles in the Iran war, leaving as few as 870 in America’s arsenal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

"We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the US military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

I listened carefully, trying to snatch a phrase here, a word there, from the arsenal of hard, precise terms.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison

A third of Americans have guns; mny of them have small arsenals in their homes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

France, China, Pakistan, India and North Korea — and all of them are expanding and upgrading their nuclear arsenals, which now number approximately 12,187 warheads.

From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026

Ukraine's president said his forces hit Russia's arsenals and a naval base in what he called a just response to Russian attacks.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

He cited depleted arsenals because of the wars in Iran and Ukraine as the reason.

From Barron's ● May 3, 2026

Our arsenals for fighting off bacteria are so powerful, and involve so many different defense mechanisms, that we are in more danger from them than from the invaders.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas