warrior
Americannoun
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warriors
plural
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a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier.
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a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of warrior
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English werreieor, from Old North French; equivalent to war 1 + -or 2
Compare meaning
How does warrior compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Although logically linked with someone engaged in war, a warrior can be anyone who fights the good fight, whether in politics, on the job, or just as a "weekend warrior" trying to accomplish multiple tasks during off-hours at home. As the Old French guerre meant "war," it led to the word guerreor for someone who wages war. This eventually morphed into the word we know as warrior. The word can also refer to someone fighting a philosophical or political war. Author Carlos Castandeda said, "Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other.” After ridding the kitchen of ants, you felt like a proud warrior.
Vocabulary lists containing warrior
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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:
Do I want to have to send out a little digital warrior to fight for me every time I want to book a golf tee time, lest there be none left?
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2026
“Just me against the hitter, and I trust myself. And like I always tell myself, ‘You are a warrior, you are you are the best, and go and compete.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Experts at Scandinavian national museums know that Vikings were a diverse group, far from the all-male warrior myth.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
From the new world, a bird-shaped jar wears women’s attire from the Moche culture and a bottle is emblazoned with a fearsome fox warrior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Fischer thought of himself as a warrior in all things, not just chess—and living in Iceland, free of incarceration, he made no exceptions.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Skopje is a city of statues, two or three hundred of them apparently, great big things in squares and in fountains commemorating tsars and dames, emperors and warriors, royalty and revolutionaries.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Here we see the real history butting up against the expected fantasy of Norse legends, warriors and gods.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
All villains and warriors have an Achilles’ heel, and for female roles in particular, it’s usually sacrificing themselves to protect their family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
Last summer, a viral Tiktoker crooned, “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund, six-five, blue eyes,” turning spreadsheet warriors into the season’s most eligible bachelors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
He was sending warriors to the borderlands, the city’s exits were going to be sealed.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
