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

The date agreed was August 6, and LeMay discussed with Tibbets the targets that had been assigned: Primary—Hiroshima urban industrial area Secondary—Kokura arsenal and city Tertiary—Nagasaki urban area. —Literary Hub, 24 July 2025

The Oak Forest Fire Department has a new weapon in its arsenal to fight fires: a new fire truck. —Melinda Moore, Chicago Tribune, 24 July 2025

The United States’ commitment to prevent its adversaries’ nuclear ambitions and to extend its nuclear arsenal as an umbrella of protection to its partners has remained intact over the last 30-plus years. —Brooke Taylor, Boston Herald, 24 July 2025

And with a changeup that in years past has been his best pitch, Cabrera will be pricey because of the full arsenal and three more years of club control. —Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 July 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