arsenal
Americannoun
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a place of storage or a magazine containing arms and military equipment for land or naval service.
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a government establishment where military equipment or munitions are manufactured.
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a collection or supply of weapons or munitions.
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a collection or supply of anything; store.
He came to the meeting with an impressive arsenal of new research data.
noun
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a store for arms, ammunition, and other military items
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a workshop or factory that produces munitions
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a store of anything regarded as weapons
an arsenal of destructive arguments
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."
Vocabulary lists containing arsenal
Words from "The Avengers"
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The American Civil War
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English Words Derived from Arabic
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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.
Since the start of the war, Ukraine has developed an arsenal of long-range drones which are often able to hit targets many hundreds of miles from its borders.
From BBC • May 4, 2026
Drones have been part of the department’s arsenal for just over a decade, but until recently their use was restricted to a narrow set of incidents, most involving barricaded suspects or bomb threats.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
In March, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a dramatic shift in nuclear deterrence, notably an increase in the atomic arsenal, currently numbering 290 warheads.
From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026
As always, our money and our attention are the most robust tools in our arsenal.
From Salon • Apr. 25, 2026
He removed a whole arsenal of tools that none of them had ever seen before and proceeded to trap an ant and carefully observe it with his microscope.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
