ronin

American  

[roh-nin] / ˈroʊ nɪn /

Or rōnin

noun

Japanese History.

• ronin,
  plural
• ronins
  plural

1. a samurai who no longer serves a daimyo, or feudal lord.

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ronin British  

/ ˈrəʊnɪn /

noun

1. a lordless samurai, esp one whose feudal lord had been deprived of his territory

2. such samurai collectively

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ronin
  plural
• ronins
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of ronin

From the Japanese word rōnin literally, “wave man” (understood as “a man tossed around like a wave”)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ronin ronins

He is also readying for his transfer to Japan by training intensively with a ronin, or masterless samurai, named Tetsuo.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

They’re really postmodern samurai films, with Wick as a lone ronin facing an endless oncoming army, a notion that pulls so many facets of this unique star into one concentrated, irresistible figure.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 24, 2023

Hector, the handsome outlaw, sees a ronin who acts suspiciously like him.

From Slate ● May 24, 2018

Her last film before her retirement was Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Chushingura,” a retelling of the classic tale of the 47 ronin, a band of 18th-century samurai bent on avenging their slain leader.

From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2015

It was during his life that the famous forty-seven ronin performed their exploit, and Kyu-so gave them the name by which they are still remembered, Gi-shi, the "Righteous Samurai."

From Evolution Of The Japanese, Social And Psychic by Sidney Lewis Gulick

There, I fancy, religious "ronins" are common enough.

From God and Mr. Wells A Critical Examination of 'God the Invisible King' by William Archer

The affair of the forty-seven ronins helped to bring into eminence the name of Yamaga Soko, a firm believer in Confucianism and an ardent follower of military science.

From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by F. (Frank) Brinkley

It was an old feudal custom, whenever the retainers of a daimyō wished to avenge any act without committing their lord, they withdrew from his service and became ronins.

From Japan by David Murray

Letters shall be despatched forthwith to the effect that 'twas a false alarm, bred of mischief and malice,--that the ronins may be disbanded, the men returned to their homes.

From The Curse of Koshiu A Chronicle of Old Japan by Lewis Wingfield

It was during this period that the British minister, visiting Kioto, a concession jealously resisted by conservative Japanese spirit, was set upon by some ronins while on his way to pay an official call.

From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

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