William Nack
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What is the difference between cannon and canon?
Cannon and canon are occasionally confused by writers, but the two words have independent origins, and do not share a meaning. Cannon is most frequently found used in the sense of "a large gun," and can be traced to the Old Italian word cannone, which means "large tube." Canon, however, comes from the Greek word kanōn, meaning "rule." Although canon has a variety of meanings, it is most often found in the senses of "a rule or law of a church," "an accepted rule," or "a sanctioned or accepted group or body of related works." A loose cannon is "a dangerously uncontrollable person or thing." There are no loose canons.
Examples of cannon in a Sentence
Bailey Richards, Peoplemag, 13 Apr. 2024
Sometimes the cannon of a battle tank appears on the edge of the frame, throwing the audience into the midst of these atrocities.
—Murtada Elfadl, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
At a show in 2009, Fishman was shot out of a cannon.
—Geoff Edgers, Washington Post, 11 Apr. 2024
The Challenger 2 has a unique main gun The Challenger 2’s L30 120-millimeter cannon is a problem.
—David Axe, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
The turbine, which resembles a snow cannon, refines water and, through its 320 nozzles, sprays trillions of tiny droplets high into the air.
—Sabrina Weiss, WIRED, 20 Mar. 2024
The cannons and reevaluation of the shipwreck site confirmed to archeologists the remains belonged to the HMS Tyger, the agency said.
—Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY, 18 Mar. 2024
The crew members likely dumped the Tyger’s heavy cannons from the boat to slow her descent.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024
The Chinese Coast Guard service is under military control, and its ships can carry cannons and other weapons.
—Amy Chang Chien, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
Rory Smith, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2023
The cost per shot is cheap, as the ammunition is technically just electricity generated on the spot and not a missile or even cannon round built in a factory and shipped to the battlefield.
—Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 19 Mar. 2020
Jesse Lingard's toe-poke cannoned back out off the post...
—SI.com, 24 Oct. 2019
Up stepped Van Nistelrooy, but his effort cannoned off the bar.
—SI.com, 28 Sep. 2019
Stefano Sabelli let rip from range, but his shot cannoned off Ricardo Rodriguez and seemed destined to find its way into the back of the net.
—SI.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Pavel Florin gets backing from Shane Warne A race to be fit
Scans later showed no fracture to Smith's arm but the 92mph bouncer that cannoned into the Australian's neck turned out to have had a more lasting effect.
—Ben Morse, CNN, 19 Aug. 2019
His attempt cannoned off the post; England took a sigh of relief but there was plenty of work still to do.
—SI.com, 19 June 2019
Fragments can cannon about above the Earth’s atmosphere for centuries — striking other satellites, and adding their wreckage to the deadly debris fields.
—Jamie Seidel, Fox News, 16 Aug. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cannon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
Middle English canon, from Anglo-French, from Old Italian cannone, literally, large tube, augmentative of canna reed, tube, from Latin, cane, reed — more at cane
Noun
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb
1567, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Phrases Containing cannon
Dictionary Entries Near cannon
Cite this Entry
“Cannon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cannon. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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More from Merriam-Webster on cannon
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for cannon
Nglish: Translation of cannon for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of cannon for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cannon
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