flagship

[flag-ship]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flagship ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a ship carrying the flag officer or the commander of a fleet, squadron, or the like, and displaying the officer's flag.

the main vessel of a shipping company.

any of the best or largest ships or airplanes operated by a passenger line.

the best or most important one of a group or system: This store is the flagship of our retail chain.

adjective

being or constituting a flagship.

Origin of flagship

First recorded in 1665–75; flag¹ + ship¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for flagship

bellwether, forerunner, head, chief

Examples from the Web for flagship

Contemporary Examples of flagship

From its founding in 1914, The New Republic has been the flagship and forum of American liberalism.
Facebook Prince Purges The New Republic: Inside the Destruction of a 100-Year-Old Magazine
Lloyd Grove
December 5, 2014
Sure, some ignored the protests, and made their pilgrimages to Apple, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton flagship stores.
Chinese Tourists Are Taking Hong Kong Protest Selfies
Brendon Hong
October 23, 2014
An interview with Mel Greig will be shown on the flagship BBC2 news program Newsnight tonight.
Kate Prank Call DJ Tells of Death Threats
Tom Sykes
October 13, 2014
Flagship series Mad Men just finished the first half of its final season.
‘Halt and Catch Fire’ and AMC’s Push to Reset Dramas
Andrew Romano
May 30, 2014
Visually, these works blend perfectly throughout the three floors of the New York flagship store on Madison Avenue.
Don’t Just Look at This Art, Sit on It
Justin Jones
March 5, 2014

Historical Examples of flagship

As soon as this penetrated to the flagship, Grayson was decorated and given a flotilla.
The Adventurer
Cyril M. Kornbluth
An answer from the flagship of the Black Fleet ahead had sounded.
Raiders Invisible
Desmond Winter Hall
The Baron went back to his flagship an infuriated, but by no means a wiser man.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini
To find the flagship was more or less to find where Thorn and Sylva hid.
Invasion
William Fitzgerald Jenkins
General Huntington's voice sounded from his flagship, the Washington.
When the Sleepers Woke
Arthur Leo Zagat

British Dictionary definitions for flagship

flagship

noun

a ship, esp in a fleet, aboard which the commander of the fleet is quartered

the most important ship belonging to a shipping company

a single item from a related group considered as the most important, often in establishing a public imagethe nine o'clock news is the flagship of the BBC

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for flagship

1670s, ship bearing an admiral's flag, from flag (n.) + ship (n.). Figurative use by 1933.