javelins

plural of javelin
as in spears
a weapon with a long straight handle and sharp head or blade from atop his horse the warrior hurled a javelin that pierced the chest of his hapless foe

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of javelins Humans have been throwing javelins for a few hundred thousand years, yet performance has largely plateaued. R. Alexander Bentley, The Conversation, 26 Feb. 2026 The Tofinu took refuge in the lagoons along the Bight of Benin, a core area of the slave trade, venturing forth in canoes with harpoons, javelins, and swords to fight off raiders from powerful nearby kingdoms. Laurent Dubois, The Atlantic, 6 Jan. 2026 The flowers and ferns of the Mani hills—purple spears, white arrows, feathery javelins—slowly flatten into the horizon. Antonia Quirke, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 May 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for javelins
Noun
  • Crossed spears of sunlight fall into it but only so far, and beneath their yellow illuminations Brith can see depths and more depths of water, darkening to obscurity.
    Maggie O’Farrell, Literary Hub, 2 June 2026
  • Asparagus is a perennial vegetable that takes a few years to produce edible spears.
    Lauren Landers, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 May 2026
Noun
  • Warhorses charge, lances down, crashing through the tilts as lances break on shields and men topple from their steeds.
    Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Three or four decades ago, the newspaperman was appealingly raffish—at once a bum who drank too much and a knight-errant who charged unafraid at social injustice, succored the weak, and crossed lances with the powerful and arrogant.
    David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025

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“Javelins.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/javelins. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.

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