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A trident has three prongs or teeth, as the root dent, "tooth", tells us. The trident has long been used to spear fish in different parts of the world, so there's no mystery about why the Greek sea god Poseidon and his Roman counterpart Neptune both carry a trident as their symbol. In some gladiator exhibitions in ancient Rome, one gladiator, called a retiarius ("net man"), would be equipped as though he were a fisherman, with a weighted net and a trident; with his net he would snare his sword-wielding opponent, and with his trident he would spear his helpless foe.
Examples of trident in a Sentence
Hannah Sacks, People.com, 31 Oct. 2024
The central Texas trident of communities also saw the seventh-largest numeric increase in population between 2022 and 2023.
—Beck Andrew Salgado, Austin American-Statesman, 14 Mar. 2024
Andrew Wendler, Car and Driver, 6 Sep. 2023
Species available through the program this fall include trident maple, river birch, sweetgum, willow oak, and dawn redwood.
—Brittany Bowker, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near trident
Cite this Entry
“Trident.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trident. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
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