Juggernaut

The definition of a juggernaut is something that is strong and destructive, stopping for nothing.

(noun)

  1. An example of a juggernaut is a strong army entering a war zone.
  2. An example of a juggernaut is a political campaign that is unstoppable.

Juggernaut is defined as something that inspires devotion or unquestioning sacrifice.

(noun)

An example of a juggernaut is a religious movement that calls on believers to sacrifice their property to the group.

YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2013 by LoveToKnow Corp.

See Juggernaut in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

  1. an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, whose idol, it was formerly supposed, so excited his worshipers when it was hauled along on a large car during religious rites that they threw themselves under the wheels and were crushed
  2. anything that exacts blind devotion or terrible sacrifice
  3. any relentless, destructive, irresistible force

Origin: altered < Hindi Jagannāth < Sans Jagannātha, lord of the world < jagat, world + nātha, lord

See Juggernaut in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed.
  2. An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path: “It doesn't assume that people need necessarily remain passive when confronted by what appears to be the juggernaut of history” (Christopher Lehmann-Haupt).
  3. Juggernaut Used as a title for the Hindu deity Krishna.

Origin:

Origin: Hindi jagannāth, title of Krishna

Origin: , from Sanskrit jagannāthaḥ, lord of the world

Origin: : jagat, moving, the world (from earlier present participle of jigāti, he goes; see gwā- in Indo-European roots)

Origin: + nāthaḥ, lord (from nāthate, he helps, protects)

Origin: . Senses 1 and 2, from the fact that worshipers have thrown themselves under the wheels of a huge car or wagon on which the idol of Krishna was drawn in an annual procession at Puri in east-central India

.

Learn more about Juggernaut

link/cite print suggestion box