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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
Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 1 June 2026
Both Salisbury and Schuster see the LCS as primarily stopgaps for the Navy, likely to give way to a new generation of frigates that was announced last December.
—Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 28 May 2026
Cuba no longer maintains a meaningful blue-water navy, modern frigates or an operational submarine fleet comparable to Cold War levels.
—Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 28 May 2026
Elsewhere, defense stocks rallied after it was reported that Sweden will buy navy frigates from France in a move that will mark Sweden's biggest military investment in decades.
—Joseph Wilkins,chloe Taylor,hugh Leask,holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 19 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Frigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frigate. Accessed 2 Jun. 2026.
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frigate
noun
