armada

noun

ar·​ma·​da är-ˈmä-də How to pronounce armada (audio) -ˈmā- How to pronounce armada (audio)
 also  -ˈma-
1
: a fleet of warships
2
: a large force or group usually of moving things

Did you know?

A Spanish word that originally meant simply "armed", armada is now used in Spanish-speaking nations as the name of their national navies. In English, the word usually has historical overtones. The Great Armada of 1588 was a 120-ship fleet sent by Philip II of Spain in an attempt to invade Elizabethan England; it was defeated when British forces lit eight ships afire and sent them sailing into the Armada's midst, then blocked the passage to the south so that the remaining ships were forced to sail northward around Britain in order to return home, causing dozens more ships to be wrecked in the stormy northern seas. Today we sometimes use the word humorously for fleets of fishing boats, rowboats, or canoes.

Examples of armada in a Sentence

an armada of fishing boats an armada of ships sailing up the coast
Recent Examples on the Web On February 19, Canada announced the addition of a new drone to the Ukrainian armada – the SkyRanger R70. Vikram Mittal, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024 Alongside an armada of watertoys, the beach club with openings on three sides and transom Z lift for easy access to the water, rounds off the argument as to why size, on occasion, does matter. Julia Zaltzman, Robb Report, 26 Jan. 2024 And in recent years, the agency has reconfigured its nationwide network of mail-sorting plants, purchased an armada of eco-friendly delivery trucks and pressed a marketing campaign in service of that goal. Jacob Bogage, Washington Post, 28 Nov. 2023 The soup also stands up to the bold flavors of the banchan, which arrive in a Trojan armada of pickled delights. Linda Zavoral, The Mercury News, 15 Jan. 2024 The last of an armada of floating jails used by New York City in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Vernon C. Bain sits across the river from Rikers Island, between a wastewater treatment plant and a wholesale fish market. Jake Offenhartz, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Oct. 2023 It has been reported to contain over 7,000 vehicles, with media leaks suggesting that maintaining such a vast armada is beyond even the Sultan’s near bottomless pockets, many of them now in poor repair. Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 24 Sep. 2023 Workers on China’s vast armada of squid ships, which make up the majority of the vessels in the fleet, typically spend two years almost entirely at sea, most of the time with no internet or phone signal. Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023 The streets of Beijing still show progress; armadas of electric cars glide by like props in a sci-fi film, and the smoke that used to impose a perpetual twilight is gone. Evan Osnos, The New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'armada.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish, "military force, fleet of warships," from armar "to arm, equip" (going back to Latin armāre) + -ada, suffix of action or result (going back to Vulgar Latin *-āta, noun derivative from feminine of Latin -ātus, past participle ending of Latin first-conjugation verbs) — more at arm entry 2

First Known Use

1550, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of armada was in 1550

Dictionary Entries Near armada

Cite this Entry

“Armada.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/armada. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

armada

noun
ar·​ma·​da är-ˈmäd-ə How to pronounce armada (audio) -ˈmād- How to pronounce armada (audio)
1
: a large fleet of warships
2
: a large force or group of usually moving things
an armada of fishing boats
Etymology

from Spanish armada "fleet," derived from Latin arma "weapons"

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