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In the 17th–19th centuries, a frigate was a three-masted, fully rigged sailing ship, often carrying 30–40 guns in all. Smaller and faster than ships of the line (the principal vessels of naval warfare), frigates served as scouts or as escorts protecting merchant convoys; they also cruised the seas as merchant raiders themselves. In World War II, Britain revived the term frigate using it to describe escort ships equipped with sonar and depth charges, and used these ships to guard convoys from submarines. In the postwar decades, the frigate also adopted an antiaircraft role, adding radar and surface-to-air missiles. Modern frigates can sail at a speed of 30 knots and carry a crew of 200.
Examples of frigate in a Sentence
Derek Gatopoulos, Quartz, 26 Feb. 2024
Noting the urgency to improve the country’s surface fleet, the government said the first of the 11 general purpose frigates would be built on an existing design imported from Japan, South Korea, Germany or Spain, with work later transitioning to an Australian shipyard.
—Brad Lendon, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024
The last of the tired frigates will likely serve until 2040.
—Eric Tegler, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2023
The shipwreck was initially located in 1993 off of Key West, but new research by archeologists has confirmed definitive evidence that the wreck is indeed the 50-gun frigate HMS Tyger, the National Park Service said on Thursday.
—Stephen Smith, CBS News, 15 Mar. 2024
When the Russian navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov set out on a combat mission last January, leader Vladimir Putin boasted about the Zircon missiles the ship was carrying.
—Brad Lendon, CNN, 13 Feb. 2024
When the invasion began, the Russian Black Sea Fleet was far mightier than its Ukrainian equivalent, consisting of the battle cruiser Moskva, five frigates, six modern submarines, 13 tank landing ships, and many smaller vessels suitable for coastal defense.
—Mark Cancian, Foreign Affairs, 8 Feb. 2024
The plan to bolster the fleet includes 20 destroyers and frigates, and six Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels (LOSVs), that can operate with sailors aboard or independently as drones.
—Brad Lendon, CNN, 20 Feb. 2024
Earlier that month, the steam frigate USSNiagara had finished laying down the world’s first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, a 2,200-mile strand of iron and copper that promised to cut communication times between North America and Europe from weeks to seconds.
—Robert Klara, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frigate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Middle French, from Old Italian fregata
1583, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing frigate
Dictionary Entries Near frigate
Cite this Entry
“Frigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frigate. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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frigate
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on frigate
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for frigate
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Britannica English: Translation of frigate for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about frigate
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