shogun

or shō·gun

[ shoh-guh n, -guhn ]
/ ˈʃoʊ gən, -gʌn /

noun Japanese History.

the title applied to the chief military commanders from about the 8th century a.d. to the end of the 12th century, then applied to the hereditary officials who governed Japan, with the emperor as nominal ruler, until 1868, when the shogunate was terminated and the ruling power was returned to the emperor.

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weal
well-being, prosperity, or happiness.
the intervening time.
a somewhat prolonged, sharp, shrill cry, as of pain, fear, or surprise.
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Origin of shogun

1605–15; < Japanese shōgun, earlier shaũgun < Middle Chinese, equivalent, to Chinese jiāngjūn literally, lead the army

OTHER WORDS FROM shogun

sho·gun·al, adjective

Words nearby shogun

shoestring tackle, shoetree, shofar, shog, shogi, shogun, shogun bond, shogunate, shoguns, shohet, shoji
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to shoguns

president, generalissimo

Example sentences from the Web for shoguns

British Dictionary definitions for shoguns

shogun
/ (ˈʃəʊˌɡuːn) /

noun Japanese history

(from 794 ad) a chief military commander
(from about 1192 to 1867) any of a line of hereditary military dictators who relegated the emperors to a position of purely theoretical supremacy

Derived forms of shogun

shogunal, adjective

Word Origin for shogun

C17: from Japanese, from Chinese chiang chün general, from chiang to lead + chün army
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

Cultural definitions for shoguns

shoguns
[ (shoh-guhnz) ]

Japanese military leaders who ruled the country from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries. There was still an emperor in Japan under the shoguns, but he was reduced to a mere figurehead.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.