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
Swordsman D’Artagnan arrives in Paris chasing his dreams to become a king’s musketeer, where he commits many a faux pas and gets robbed, among other indignities.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 15, 2023
The story finally kicks into gear when the musketeer Athos, played by Ben Cunis, reads a letter about his son’s misfortune even as we watch it playing out in a gorgeous slow-motion battle.
From Washington Post • May 16, 2016
The instigator is that musketeer of the digital age, the whistleblower.
From The Guardian • Apr. 6, 2016
Later, when a Latin scholar, he was again taken prisoner by the soldiers, was made an officer's servant, and then a musketeer.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. II. by Freytag, Gustav
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.
