weapon
/ˈwɛp.ən/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.54 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An instrument or other means of harming or exerting control over another.
noun
An idiot, an oaf, a fool, a tool; a contemptible or incompetent person.
British usage; Derogatory; Slang
Example Sentences
- "The club that is now mostly used for golf was once a common weapon."
- "Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.[…]One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished. Modern society may not have done anything about war. But peace is a lot more peaceful."
- "Money is the main weapon of modern oligarchs."
- "“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”"
- "Rory Delap's long throw-ins are a familiar weapon to the Potters' opponents but this does not make them any easier to defend against."
- "Choose your weapon."
Etymology
From Middle English wepen, from Old English wǣpn, from Proto-West Germanic *wāpn, from Proto-Germanic *wēpną (“weapon”), of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wēbnom. Cognates Cognate with Scots weepon (“weapon”), North Frisian woopen (“weapon”), Saterland Frisian Woapen (“weapon”), West Frisian wapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Alemannic German Waaffe (“tool”), Dutch wapen (“weapon”), German Waffe (“weapon”) and Wappen (“coat of arms”), Luxembourgish Waff (“weapon”), Yiddish וואָפֿן (vofn, “weapon”), Danish våben (“weapon; coat of arms”), Faroese vákn, vápn (“weapon; whaling lance”), Icelandic vopn (“weapon”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk våpen (“weapon”), Swedish vapen (“weapon; coat of arms”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐍀𐌽 (wēpn, “weapon”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwɛp.ən/
- British English: /ˈwɛp.ən/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
academic weapon
Assault Weapons Ban
assault with a deadly weapon
hypersonic weapon
nuclear weapons inheritance project
nuclear weapons state
personal defence weapon
secret weapon
Frequently Paired Words
:Category:Weapons