pennant

[pen-uh nt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pennant ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a long, tapering flag or burgee of distinctive form and special significance, borne on naval or other vessels and used in signaling or for identification.

any relatively long, tapering flag.

a flag serving as an emblem of victory or championship, especially in baseball.

Music. hook¹(def 12a).

Nautical. pendant(def 6).

Origin of pennant

1605–15; blend of pennon and pendant

Can be confusedpendant pendent pennant pundit

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

Related Words for pennant

streamer, pennon, emblem, color, ensign, standard, decoration, jack, bunting, screamer, banderole, burgee

Examples from the Web for pennant

Contemporary Examples of pennant

With a pennant, a season, at stake, many pitchers would have taken the shot unhesitatingly.
Will the Real Jim Palmer Please Stand Up
Tom Boswell
September 27, 2014
In the midst of this, almost unnoticed, the Yankees clinched the pennant.
Babe Ruth’s Summer of Records
Bill Bryson
September 29, 2013
The New York Yankees will not even make the playoffs, let alone win the American League pennant or the World Series.
8 Nightmares in 2011: U.S. Economy, Olbermann, More
Leslie H. Gelb
January 23, 2011

Historical Examples of pennant

Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined her.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
The barge is coming off, Mr. Hardy, with the pennant flying, sir!
Captain Brand of the "Centipede"
H. A. (Henry Augustus) Wise
She's flying the White Ensign and an admiral's pennant, and, yes, a flag of truce.
The World Peril of 1910
George Griffith
One might almost have thought that they were fighting for the pennant.
Baseball Joe Around the World
Lester Chadwick
There had been the fierce, tense race for the pennant that had strained them to the utmost.
Baseball Joe Around the World
Lester Chadwick

British Dictionary definitions for pennant

pennant

noun

a type of pennon, esp one flown from vessels as identification or for signalling

mainly US, Canadian and Australian

a flag serving as an emblem of championship in certain sports
(as modifier)pennant cricket

nautical another word for pendant (def. 5)

same as flag 1 (def. 10)

Word Origin for pennant

C17: probably a blend of pendant and pennon

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 pennant

1610s, "rope for hoisting," probably a blend of pendant in the nautical sense of "suspended rope" and pennon. Use for "flag on a warship" first recorded 1690s; "flag symbolizing a sports championship" (especially baseball) is from 1880; as a synonym for "championship" it was first used 1915.