arsenal

American  

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

noun

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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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

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

Yet its arsenal is facing such drastic shortfalls in some of its most critical weapons!

From Slate • Apr. 24, 2026

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his young daughter oversaw a test of a cluster bomb, a controversial weapon now vital to its strategic-missile arsenal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026

To this day, neutron therapy as pioneered by the cyclotroneers in 1938 remains an important part of the arsenal against certain cancers, including those of the prostate and salivary glands.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik