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.
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Examples of juggernaut in a Sentence
Ryan Coleman, EW.com, 10 Dec. 2024
Still, the accusations threw his juggernaut into doubt, with museum shows put on hold and paintings withdrawn from auction presumably for fear that his reputational damage would also ding his prices.
—Rachel Corbett, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2024
Tech juggernauts Meta Platforms, Amazon and Netflix also ended the session lower.
—Brian Evans, CNBC, 9 Dec. 2024
The extraordinary work that resulted from his labors, McNeal, which just completed its inaugural run in a Broadway production at Lincoln Center Theater, is a juggernaut—an intellectual, conceptual, and dramatic juggernaut.
—Ayad Akhtar, The Atlantic, 4 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Juggernaut.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juggernaut. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
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