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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

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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. )

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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

Yet economists, industry leaders and labor experts are unsure if the U.S. labor market as a whole can regain its former dynamism and become a job-producing juggernaut again.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

And in Kelly’s first season as Northwestern’s offensive coordinator, he has dusted off the “Wing T” to turn the Wildcats into an unlikely juggernaut.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

Last year was a low point for the video game juggernaut, with poor reviews for its single-player campaign mode and multiplayer fans defecting to rival titles.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Meta’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has wielded enormous power over the social media empire he built more than two decades ago, leading the California juggernaut through major scandals, scrutiny and technological shifts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Desperately, I threw myself headfirst into the juggernaut.

From "Ungifted" by Gordon Korman

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

From MarketWatch ● May 7, 2026

The memo notes that two publicly traded bank companies, Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Investar Holding, have disclosed in their own filings in the past two years that Juggernaut was a shareholder.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 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

His music began with Jeff Buckley's 'Hallelujah' and soon turned into a vastly different vibe - a rap song with the chorus "You don't want to war with big Juggernaut".

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2023

An endless flow of fish pounded the outer wall, but it would take more than fish to damage the mighty Juggernaut.

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

Microsoft seemed like an obvious early winner in AI: The company became OpenAI’s first major corporate backer through a $1 billion investment in 2019, aligning itself early on with one of the industry’s juggernauts.

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 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

The rise of Chinese e-commerce juggernauts Shein and Temu conditioned shoppers to wait longer for their packages—and revealed to American businesses that their customers weren’t always looking for speedy delivery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026

Your juggernauts their victims bump From Camberwell to Aldgate pump!

From A Selection from the Works of Frederick Locker by Hannah Jane Locker-Lampson

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