man-of-war

noun

ˌma-nə(v)-ˈwȯr 

variants or less commonly man-o'-war

ˌma-nə-ˈwȯr 

plural men-of-war ˌme-nə(v)-ˈwȯr  also men-o'-war ˌme-nə-ˈwȯr 

: a combatant warship of a recognized navy

Examples of man-of-war in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Melville wrote two more sailing novels that blended fiction and nonfiction based on his experiences on a merchant vessel (Redburn) and a man-of-war (White-Jacket), neither of which succeeded. — Literary Hub, 28 Apr. 2026

Somewhere over the course of their evolution, the class of hydrozoans — which includes certain kinds of jellyfish, hydras, and colonial siphonophores such as the Portuguese man-of-war — lost the genes that operate circadian clocks in the rest of the animal kingdom. — Marlowe Starling, Quanta Magazine, 20 Mar. 2026

Chad Ryan’s scenic design of George and Martha’s rotting-from-the-inside house is decorated with the symbols of war, like a framed sword, a model man-of-war battleship and a bust of Napoleon. — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026

The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore, meaning it is made up of a colony of organisms that each have a special function, according to the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. — Caroline Wilburn, Houston Chronicle, 9 Mar. 2026

Nassau had no men-of-war ships, and Trott’s stone fort was still a building site. — Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Apr. 2024

My hundred-and-forty-foot man-of-war sought to make the first mission to the South Pole, a feat that would bring pride to England. — Mike O’Brien, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2023

Just as airpower eventually killed off the great men-of-war that had ruled the waves for millennia, so cyberweapons might strip other weapons or tactics of their utility. — Kenneth M. Pollack, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for man-of-war

• albacore
• alongshore
• antiwar
• anymore
• carnivore
• commodore
• dinosaur
• evermore
• furthermore
• guarantor
• herbivore
• heretofore

Kids Definition

man-of-war

noun

ˌman-ə(v)-ˈwȯ(ə)r

plural men-of-war

ˌmen-

: warship