arsenal

noun

ar·​se·​nal ˈärs-nəl 

ˈär-sə-

1

a

: an establishment for the manufacture or storage of arms and military equipment

The city is home to a federal arsenal.

b

: a collection of weapons

2

: store, repertoire

the team's arsenal of veteran players

Synonyms of arsenal

• armory
• warehouse

Examples of arsenal in a Sentence

The city is home to a federal arsenal.

Doctors have a broad arsenal of medicines to choose from.

the team's arsenal of veteran players

Recent Examples on the Web

The Guardian skill track turns players into a tanky frontline anchor with proximity revives, while the exotics Defrag and Cryoshear join the arsenal. — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

For hard-to-reach corners and narrow stretches of floor, crevice and combination tools are some of the most helpful tools to have in your cleaning arsenal. — Nashia Baker, Architectural Digest, 25 June 2026

Once relying on its massive missile arsenal, advances in Israeli intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance have neutered its previous strategy of relying on simultaneous barrages of missiles to overwhelm Israeli missile defenses. — Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 24 June 2026

The destroyer, named Choe Hyon, signals Kim’s efforts to expand Pyongyang’s military might at sea alongside the long-standing focus on his reclusive regime’s missile arsenal. — Stella Kim, NBC news, 24 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

earlier, "dockyard for the construction and repair of naval vessels," borrowed from Middle French archenal, arsenail, arsenal (in reference to the naval dockyard of Venice), borrowed (with conformation of the final to -al -al entry 2) from Upper Italian (Venice) arzanà, presumably alteration (by metanalysis, with the initial taken as the preposition d', di "from") of darsenà (attested in Genoese, earlier in Medieval Latin as darsena, darsana), borrowed from Arabic dār al-ṣināʽa "place of manufacture," from dār "house" + al "the" (assimilated to aṣ) + ṣināʽa "manufacture" (derivative of ṣanaʽa "to make")

Note: Forms with final -ale (as arsenale, arzanale, arzenale) are attested in Italian in the sixteenth century and may be the immediate source of the English word. The French forms with -al may reflect these, though attested about a century earlier. As arzanà the Venetian word is attested in the text of Dante's Inferno ("nell'arzanà de' Viniziani," XXI, 7).

First Known Use

1555, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

arsenal

noun

ar·​se·​nal ˈärs-nəl 

-ᵊn-əl

1

: a place for the manufacture or storage of arms

2

: a collection of weapons