juggernaut
noun
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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 Jagannath, 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.
Synonyms
Examples of juggernaut in a Sentence
Bob Sorokanich, Robb Report, 17 Apr. 2024
China’s manufacturing juggernaut, underpinned by years of policy directives and financial support from Beijing to local governments and companies, has made the country’s goods among the world’s cheapest.
—Alexandra Stevenson, New York Times, 16 Apr. 2024
The San Diego hospitality juggernaut, CH Projects, invested $134 million — and counting — into a meticulous update that also includes seven new restaurants and bars, the last of which will open later this year.
—Lori Weisberg, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2024
Now the Big Ten champs face the sport’s current juggernaut, South Carolina.
—Kevin Dotson, CNN, 6 Apr. 2024
The Magic is far from an offensive juggernaut, and had a rough night even by its standards.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 31 Mar. 2024
Two industry juggernauts, Nvidia and Synopsys held conferences that brought developers and tech innovators together in very different but complementary ways.
—Dave Altavilla, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
Caitlin Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes will face coach Dawn Staley’s undefeated juggernaut South Carolina Gamecocks for the women’s crown on Sunday.
—Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 Apr. 2024
On Thursday, the Chinese juggernaut launched its first electric vehicle, the SU7 sedan.
—Steve Mollman, Fortune, 30 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'juggernaut.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Juggernaut.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juggernaut. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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