corvette
Americannoun
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corvettes
plural
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a warship of the old sailing class, having a flush deck and usually one tier of guns.
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a lightly armed, fast ship used mostly for convoy escort and ranging in size between a destroyer and a gunboat.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of corvette
1630–40; < French, Middle French < Middle Dutch corver pursuit boat (derivative of corf fishing boat, literally, basket), with suffix altered to -ette -ette
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Example Sentences
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In 2010, South Korea's Cheonan corvette was torpedoed -- an attack Seoul attributed to North Korea, but which Pyongyang denied.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
This week, the U.K. navy closely followed a Russian naval corvette and an oil tanker as the duo sailed through British waters toward the North Sea, according to the U.K.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
In 1943 he joined the Navy, where as a seaman he carried out general ship and gunnery duties on the Flower class corvette HMS Potentilla.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025
At least two warships could be seen in the photos, one whose gangway identified it as the Chinese navy corvette Wenshan.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 7, 2023
The fog quietly dispersed as the corvette went about and prepared to deliver her port guns in a similar manner.
From Equatorial America Descriptive of a Visit to St. Thomas, Martinique, Barbadoes, and the Principal Capitals of South America by Maturin Murray Ballou
More than 100 Iranian naval vessels have been severely damaged, destroyed or sunk, including four Soleimani-class warships known as corvettes, more than 30 minelayers and a drone carrier, U.S. officials say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Its maritime arm dispatched frigates and corvettes to patrol the coastal waters with little event.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2024
It also says China is constructing two new A56 corvettes for its own navy, and insists that the Chinese presence in Ream is not permanent, so does not count as a base.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2024
For many years, Israel’s three Sa’ar 5 corvettes were its largest warships, about the size of frigates.
From Salon ● May 19, 2024
Footnote 50: The allied fleet comprised 23 line-of-battle ships, 31 frigates and corvettes, 29 smaller steamers and gunboats, and 18 other craft.
From The Letters of Queen Victoria : A Selection from Her Majesty's Correspondence between the Years 1837 and 1861 Volume 3, 1854-1861 by Arthur Christopher Benson
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.
