dragoon

noun dra·goon \ drə-ˈgün , dra- \

Updated on: 23 Mar 2018

Definition of dragoon

1 : a member of a European military unit formerly composed of heavily armed mounted troops

2 : cavalryman

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dragoon was our Word of the Day on 12/03/2008. Hear the podcast!

Recent Examples of dragoon from the Web

The camp hands out small Confederate flags at town events and lays a wreath at the site of two monuments to the dragoons on the last Monday in April, when the state celebrates Confederate Memorial Day.

— Washington Post, "The battle over our nation’s Confederate remnants," 12 Sep. 2017
Prattville Dragoons monument in Prattville, above, erected 1916, to honor unit that fought in the Battle of Shiloh.

— AL.com, "A look at Confederate monuments in every Alabama county," 17 Aug. 2017
The weekend’s stars are the Virginia militia, British Dragoons and Redcoats—all armed and dressed accordingly.

— katie jackson, Fox News, "6 Historic reenactments every American should see," 15 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dragoon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Illustration of dragoon

Origin and Etymology of dragoon

French dragon dragon, dragoon, from Middle French

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1604

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dragoon

verb

Definition of dragoon

transitive verb

1 : to subjugate or persecute by harsh use of troops

2 : to force into submission or compliance especially by violent measures

See dragoon defined for English-language learners

Examples of dragoon in a Sentence

she was dragooned into agreeing to the fraudulent scheme

Recent Examples of dragoon from the Web

His sole opponent, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, was dragooned into service hours before the registration deadline to avoid the embarrassment of a one-man race.

— The Economist, "Ahead of a farcical election, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi goes after the press," 8 Mar. 2018
Internet-of-things devices frequently have dismal security (which, apart from making them vulnerable to being dragooned into botnets, also makes them a gift to spies).

— david meyer, Fortune, "How Criminals Can Mine Cryptocurrency With Your Poorly-Secured Smart Devices," 1 Mar. 2018
At any given moment, they can be dragooned by a presidential tweet into yet another fight to protect Trump, his associates, and his business empire, from independent scrutiny.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "Joe Manchin Is Right: Washington Sucks," 2 Feb. 2018
The daughter of a doctor and a nursing school dean, Ms. Nagle started making up stories as a child, dragooning her two younger sisters into acting them out with her.

— laura collins-hughes, New York Times, "Fighting for Native Americans, in Court and Onstage," 17 Jan. 2018
McMaster, who came to fame with his book about the career military’s failure to live up to its values during the Vietnam War, has walked a fine line, too often dragooned into service to explain away Trump’s lies, threats, or mistakes.

— james fallows, The Atlantic, "The Broken Check and Balance," 31 Oct. 2017
What that is may be a bit vague, as they’ve been dragooned by a mysterious government agency into finding an agent who’s disappeared into the extraterrestrial vortex.

— john anderson, WSJ, "‘Ghosted’ Review: Supernatural Laughter," 28 Sep. 2017
The military also dragoons troops at nearby Camp Pendleton and armor and military police reserve depots nationwide to help staff the show.

— carl prine, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Miramar Air Show wraps up, declared success by officials," 24 Sep. 2017
The event was the brainchild of Steve Wojciechowski, who was dragooned into the role of piñata by practically everyone on the dais and who is currently entering into his fourth season as the coach of the Golden Eagles (Yeah, we’ll get to that, I promise).

— charles p. pierce, SI.com, "As progress rounds off Marquette's edges, celebrating a unique program's unlikely success," 26 June 2017