dragoon

noun dra·goon \ drə-ˈgün , dra- \

|Updated on: 16 May 2018

Examples: dragoon in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

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 two companies of U.S. Army dragoons that arrived eight months before Texas joined the union in 1846 followed Republic of Texas volunteers, the Mexican army and Spaniards who established the city in 1718.

— sig christenson, San Antonio Express-News, "Celebration of S.A. military coming to a rejuvenated Fort Sam," 3 May 2018
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

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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

The relatively small number of women who are fertile are dragooned as handmaids, child-bearing slaves for married couples.

— david wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle, "‘Handmaid’s Tale’ makes you work, but pays off as few shows ever could," 20 Apr. 2018
He's dragooned away from this life into a case investigating an insurance claim by a former Wehrmacht soldier who served in Greece during the war and may have been trafficking loot stolen from Jews being deported to Auschwitz.

— steve donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Greeks Bearing Gifts' will be the last in the popular 'Bernie Gunther' series begun in Nazi Germany," 5 Apr. 2018
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

Did You Know?

A dragoon was a mounted European infantryman of the 17th and 18th centuries armed with a firearm called by the same name. No arm-twisting should be needed to get you to believe that the firearm's name, which came to English from French, is derived from its semblance to a fire-breathing dragon when fired. History has recorded the dragonish nature of the dragoons who persecuted the French Protestants in the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV. The persecution by means of the dragoons led to the use of the word dragoon as a verb.