sabre
Americannoun
noun
-
a stout single-edged cavalry sword, having a curved blade
-
a sword used in fencing, having a narrow V-shaped blade, a semicircular guard, and a slightly curved hand
-
a cavalry soldier
verb
Etymology
Origin of sabre
C17: via French from German (dialect) Sabel, from Middle High German sebel, perhaps from Magyar száblya; compare Russian sablya sabre
Compare meaning
How does sabre compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
See Examples For:
In it, a French geologist mentioned a single sabre shaped fossil tooth resembling those of the massive predator Carcharodontosaurus, originally found in Egypt's Western Desert in the early 1900s.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
Regardless, the statement amounted to unusual nuclear sabre rattling.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025
Kharlan was disqualified from last year's World Championships after offering her sabre to tap blades instead of shaking hands following victory over Anna Smirnova.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2024
For many years, he has been among the best in the Americas in foil and sabre.
From Seattle Times ● May 9, 2024
With a sabre cut, I suppose, and a bandage around his head.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
The Russian hussars of Ysum were sabred and overthrown at Kelm.
From History of the Expedition to Russia Undertaken by the Emperor Napoleon in the Year 1812 by Ségur, Philippe-Paul, comte de
This letter will explain how, in Thebais, Some discontents required the sabred hand Of Abulkassen.
From The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing Miss Sara Sampson, Philotas, Emilia Galotti, Nathan the Wise by Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim
Many more than a hundred sabred gentlemen pressed round to "do themselves the honor," as they expressed it, of paying Cunningham a compliment.
From Rung Ho! by Mundy, Talbot
A sabred Procession has nothing for it but to explode, along what streets, alleys, Tuileries Avenues it finds; and disappear.
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
It was a phrase that sabred the spider-webs of logical refinement, and held them up scornfully on the point.
From The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes by Zangwill, Israel
If I were to march into Moldavia," a Rumanian was telling me, "against the enemies of Austria, I would have to begin by sabring all the Moldavian peasants, who are crying, 'Down with Austria!'
From The New York Times Current History, A Monthly Magazine The European War, March 1915 by Various
Page 453, line 40, read "sabring" for "sobering."
From History of Kershaw's Brigade by Dickert, D. Augustus
Half a dozen huzzaing and sabring troopers saw the three and shouted to others nearer yet.
From The Long Roll by Johnston, Mary
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.
