dreadnought
dreadnought — noun
- dreadnoughtsingular
- dreadnoughtsplural
1. a heavily armed battleship class introduced around 1906, carrying uniformly larg
a heavily armed battleship class introduced around 1906, carrying uniformly large guns and powered by steam turbines, which rendered all earlier warship designs obsolete.
When the HMS Dreadnought was launched in 1906, it made every other battleship in the world outdated overnight.
HMS Dreadnought launched 1906 — historical reference
The naval museum in Portsmouth has a full-scale model of a dreadnought on display.
collocation: dreadnought + on display / naval museum
Germany and Britain competed fiercely to build more dreadnoughts in the years before World War One.
Tamás read a book about dreadnought-class ships and their role in the Battle of Jutland.
Engineers designed the dreadnought with steam turbines instead of the older triple-expansion engines.
- battleship
the general category; a dreadnought is a specific type of early-20th-century battleship
- warship
broader term covering any armed naval vessel, not limited to large gun-armed ships
用法筆記
Often capitalised (Dreadnought) when referring specifically to the original British battleship HMS Dreadnought. The lowercase form is used for the general class of warships modelled after it.
常見錯誤
2. a person who shows great physical or emotional strength and appears to be afraid
a person who shows great physical or emotional strength and appears to be afraid of nothing — for example, a campaigner who keeps fighting despite threats, or an athlete who never backs down from a challenge.
Mei was a dreadnought in the boardroom, arguing for fair wages even when the directors tried to silence her.
figurative: dreadnought in [location/role]
The young activist quickly became known as a dreadnought who would not be intimidated by the authorities.
collocation: known as a dreadnought
Folake is a dreadnought on the tennis court — she has never lost a match after being two sets down.
When the factory closed, Sofie became the dreadnought who organised the entire community to fight for their jobs.
- coward
direct opposite in terms of courage
用法筆記
This sense is much less common than the battleship meaning and is used mainly in figurative or admiring descriptions. It is not a neutral label; calling someone a dreadnought implies strong approval of their courage.