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:
CrowdStrike’s flagship Falcon platform consolidates endpoint protection, cloud workloads, identity security and security operations-center management.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
This morning, he’s in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, at the flagship store for On, the sleek Swiss apparel brand for whom he’s both an investor and spiritual embodiment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Tennessee’s flagship university paid $1.9 million to a professor it fired after Fox News pounced on her comments.
From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026
On Monday, government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said Macron "has decided to promulgate the law" containing the ban on phones, despite the Constitutional Council striking down its flagship provision.
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
It was a high-end place with fountains and flagship stores.
From "Genuine Fraud" by E. Lockhart
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
Browne, the fashion designer known for his shrunken suiting, recently opened two new stores on the Upper East Side, joining other labels like Khaite, Toteme, Kallmeyer and Ulla Johnson, which all had flagships downtown first.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 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
However, a new study argues that individual animals or plants can also be used as flagships, with enormous potential to raise awareness and mobilise public support.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2023
As soon as the two flagships were engaged, the battle was taken up by the Scorpion, Ariel, and Caledonia opposed to the Chippewa, Queen Charlotte, and Hunter.
From Tecumseh A Chronicle of the Last Great Leader of His People; Vol. 17 of Chronicles of Canada by Ethel T. Raymond
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.
