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• juggernaut
  juggernaut

  noun

  any large, overpowering force or object, such as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.
• Juggernaut
  Juggernaut

  noun

  a crude idol of Krishna worshipped at Puri and throughout Odisha (formerly Orissa) and Bengal. At an annual festival the idol is wheeled through the town on a gigantic chariot and devotees are supposed to have formerly thrown themselves under the wheels

juggernaut

American  

[juhg-er-nawt, -not] / ˈdʒʌg ərˌnɔt, -ˌnɒt /

Or Juggernaut

noun

• juggernauts
  plural

1. any large, overpowering force or object, such as war, a giant battleship, or a powerful football team.

2. anything requiring blind devotion or cruel sacrifice.

3. Chiefly British. A large, heavy vehicle, especially a truck.

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Juggernaut ¹ British  

/ ˈdʒʌɡəˌnɔːt /

noun

1. a crude idol of Krishna worshipped at Puri and throughout Odisha (formerly Orissa) and Bengal. At an annual festival the idol is wheeled through the town on a gigantic chariot and devotees are supposed to have formerly thrown themselves under the wheels

2. a form of Krishna miraculously raised by Brahma from the state of a crude idol to that of a living god

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juggernaut ² British  

/ ˈdʒʌɡəˌnɔːt /

noun

1. any terrible force, esp one that destroys or that demands complete self-sacrifice

2. a very large lorry for transporting goods by road, esp one that travels throughout Europe

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Juggernaut Cultural  

1. A deity in Hinduism, considered a deliverer from sin. His image is carried on a large wagon in an annual procession in India, and according to legend the wagon crushed worshipers who threw themselves under it.

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Discover More

A force, an idea, or a system of beliefs that overcomes opposition — especially if it does so ruthlessly — is called a “juggernaut.”

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Juggernautish
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• juggernauts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of juggernaut

First recorded in 1630–40, in the sense of an idol of Krishna annually drawn on an enormous cart in Puri, Odisha, India; 1840–45 juggernaut for defs. 1, 2; from Hindi Jagannāth, from Sanskrit Jagannātha- “lord of the world”; see Jagannath ( def. )

Explanation

Juggernaut means a massive force. If the army marching into your country is a juggernaut, you're doomed. If you're trying to market a new Cola product, you're up against corporate giant Coca-Cola, a beverage juggernaut if ever there was one. With its roots in Hindi, juggernaut originally referred to a crude statue from which the Hindu god, Brahma, turned into the living god, Krishna. There continues to be a festival in honor of this miracle, in which a statue of Krishna is carted through town. It is said that in times past, devotees would throw themselves under the cart’s wheels.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

juggernaut Juggernaut juggernauts

As the cleanup has progressed, Lineage has been racking up thousands of dollars in fines from public health regulators — a drop in the bucket for the global cold storage juggernaut.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

While Zhu would grow GigaDevice into a highly successful publicly traded chip designer in the years that followed, the company lacked the capital and expertise to become a memory juggernaut.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026

Coupled with their vast resources, it’s a lethal combination that has transformed them into an unstoppable juggernaut.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

I would never have imagined, nearly three decades later, that the Grand Theft Auto series would become the cultural juggernaut it is today.

From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026

Quaking with fear, Chickenhound held his breath as the woodland juggernaut thundered by within a couple of yards of the hideout.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

Juggernaut Fund LP is the private limited partnership through which Druckenmiller manages his personal $11 billion fortune.

From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026

Among Warsh’s most significant assets are two positions in the Juggernaut Fund, each valued at more than $50 million.

From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026

Pittsburgh-based Foundation is backed by private-equity firms Kelso & Co. and Juggernaut Capital Partners.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

The "adrenaline-pumping night like no other" will see Louis "The Razor" Robinson go up against Dom "The Juggernaut" Sorby.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2024

On-screen was a map with the Juggernaut at the center.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

But several of the acts championing $20 tickets are juggernauts on the road.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

They returned to the summit again until visiting City on 26 April, with Pep Guardiola's juggernauts convincing 4-1 victors during a run of 14 wins from 15 games.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026

In 2025, the best picture slate brought in about $1.7 billion globally, buoyed by box-office juggernauts “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2026

In a 2019 book about Michigan football, then-coach Jim Harbaugh explained the Wolverines’ challenges in competing with the sport’s juggernauts by saying it was “hard to beat the cheaters.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025

Fate had reserved for him the final insult of riding him down under the wheels of one of those juggernauts at which he had once shouted "Git a hoss!"

From The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington

Related Words

• barrage
• cavalcade