warship
Americannoun
-
warships
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of warship
Explanation
A warship is a military sea vessel that's usually armed with weapons. A country's navy uses warships in battles or to transport troops. A battleship is one specific kind of warship, a very large one that's outfitted with weapons and heavily defended against attack. All warships are prepared for war (which is where they get their name), and most of them are controlled by the naval forces of a nation. Many countries move their warships into particular regions to exert political force on adversaries, or send them to protect civilian or cargo ships from pirate attacks.
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:
And on Tuesday Denmark also accused a Russian warship of firing two emergency flares at one of its helicopters while it was tracking the vessel in the Baltic Sea.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Navy warship with ballistic missiles, ANZ Research analysts say in a research report.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in the last two days.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
One day later, Iran took aim at another warship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Even in a world of gods and monsters, Annabeth couldn’t believe a new warship would be haunted.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
"We have welders from the Philippines and South Africa working on the next generation of Scottish warships because not enough Scottish workers have the skills," Marra is expected to say.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
The economic pressure has been matched by increasing forays by Chinese aircraft and warships close to Japan, and a stream of diplomatic invective invoking Japan’s wartime past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
At a community meeting last month, US officials explained the port's benefits by showing images of cruise ships, not warships.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
Barbin said this was "not the first time that Danish Air Force helicopters have carried out dangerous manoeuvres near Russian warships".
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Aitken, a house painter also known as “John the Painter,” figured that if he could destroy all the rope being made at Portsmouth, the Royal Navy’s warships could not sail.
From "George Washington, Spymaster" by Thomas B. Allen
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.
