musketeer
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of musketeer
1580–90; musket + -eer; compare French mousquetaire, equivalent to mousquet musket + -aire -ary
Explanation
In the old days, a musketeer was a soldier who was armed with a muzzle-loading long gun. Before World War I, a musketeer was a member of the infantry who carried a specific type of weapon called a musket. Today, you're probably most likely to find this word referring to the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas called "The Three Musketeers." If you guessed the book is about three soldiers who carry muskets, you're right! It's also not unusual for adults to describe a group of three close pals as "the three musketeers."
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.
More than 350 years after the death of legendary French musketeer d'Artagnan, remains have been found under the floor of a Dutch church that may well have been his.
From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026
A lone musketeer of disruption, he spouts mantras about the glory of “breaking stuff,” and cloaks his bottomless greed and shallow narcissism in showy messianic robes.
From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2022
Brosnan’s take on Louis XIV is a velvet-clad, swashbuckling royal with a magnificent mane and plenty of eyeliner, a sort of modernist musketeer.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2022
Here’s William Fotheringham’s pocket guide to today’s stage, which starts at Pau - birthplace of Isaac de Porthau, real-life musketeer and inspiration for Alexandre Dumas’s Porthos, fact fans - and ends at Laruns.
From The Guardian • Sep. 6, 2020
"My dear abbe, you are full of wit," replied D'Harmental, "but terribly indiscreet; so much so, that, if you were a musketeer instead of an abbe, I should quarrel with you."
From The Conspirators The Chevalier d'Harmental by Dumas père, Alexandre
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.
