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

• 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

Allocating the cost of sports content across Disney+ and Hulu’s 183 million-plus subs might be necessary if ESPN wants to continue adding to its rights arsenal. —Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 9 Sep. 2025

Macron still wields significant authority over foreign policy, European affairs, and the military as commander in chief of France's nuclear arsenal. —Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Sep. 2025

The bottom line is that Eovaldi is an expert at making adjustments, sometimes due to injury, and sometimes just to optimize his existing arsenal. —Tony Blengino, Forbes.com, 8 Sep. 2025

While a compact carry-on and durable oversized suitcase are must-haves in any luggage arsenal, the importance of a travel backpack shouldn’t be overlooked. —Rachel Trujillo, Travel + Leisure, 7 Sep. 2025

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