juggernaut
noun
Did you know?
The History of Juggernaut
In the early 14th century, Franciscan missionary Friar Odoric brought to Europe the story of an enormous carriage that carried an image of the Hindu god Vishnu (whose title was Jagannāth, literally, "lord of the world") through the streets of India in religious processions. Odoric reported that some worshippers deliberately allowed themselves to be crushed beneath the vehicle's wheels as a sacrifice to Vishnu. That story was likely an exaggeration or misinterpretation of actual events, but it spread throughout Europe. The tale caught the imagination of English listeners, and they began using juggernaut to refer to any massive vehicle (such as a steam locomotive) and to any other enormous entity with powerful crushing capabilities. While the word is still used sometimes in British English to refer to a very large, heavy truck (also called a "juggernaut lorry"), juggernaut is more commonly used figuratively for a relentless force, entity, campaign, or movement, as in "a political/economic/cultural juggernaut."
Examples of juggernaut in a Sentence
Chris Branch, New York Times, 10 Nov. 2025
The song would become one of the biggest hits of 2025, topping the Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks while turning Warren himself into a streaming juggernaut.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 9 Nov. 2025
Canada was gripped by the World Series last month and early in November as the Blue Jays, the country’s only MLB team, came agonizingly close to upsetting the Dodgers juggernaut.
—Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 7 Nov. 2025
Shein—a global fast-fashion juggernaut headquartered in Singapore—was mere days away from opening its first physical store in Paris, inside the BHV Marais department store, when the news hit.
—Andrew Nusca, Fortune, 4 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for juggernaut
Cite this Entry
“Juggernaut.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juggernaut. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.
Copy Citation
Share