juggernaut

n.

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.

[Hindi jagannāth, title of Krishna, from Sanskrit jagannāthaḥ, lord of the world : jagat, moving, the world (from earlier present participle of jigāti, he goes) + nāthaḥ, lord (from nāthate, he helps, protects). 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.]

(JUG-uhr-not)
noun

1. Anything requiring blind sacrifice.

2. A massive relentless force, person, institution, etc. that crushes everything in its path.

[From Hindi jagannath (a title of Krishna, a Hindu god), from Sanskrit jagannath, from jagat (world) + nath (lord). A procession of Lord Jagannath takes place each year at Puri (India). Devotees pull a huge cart carrying the deity. Some have been accidentally crushed under the wheels (or are said to have thrown themselves under them).]

A picture of the procession: srijagannath.org/puri/r_yatra.jpg

Usage:

"Sergio Cragnotti, the Lazio chairman, had spent some �200 million to assemble the juggernaut squad that won the title in the 1999-2000 season." — Lazio Become a Shining Example; The Times (London, UK); Oct 19, 2003.

"While Apple Computer has finally made its long-anticipated move to license Macintosh technology to computer manufacturers, this is only the beginning of its strategy to challenge the Microsoft juggernaut." — IT Digest; Jan 19, 1995.

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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a massive inexorable force that seems to crush everything in its way
  Synonym: steamroller

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - Jagannath

Nederlands (Dutch)
grote zware vrachtwagen, moloch, groot Krishna-beeld in processie

Français (French)
n. - (fig) force/poussée irrésistible, forces aveugles, cause/conviction pour laquelle on est sacrifié ou on se sacrifie soi-même, énorme poids lourd, semi-remorque, mastodonte

Deutsch (German)
n. - Moloch, Monster

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - μεγαθήριο, τεράστια νταλίκα

Italiano (Italian)
colosso, grande camion

Português (Portuguese)
n. - rolo (m) compressor (fig.) (força que destrói tudo à sua frente), seita (f) ou credo (m) destrutivo

Русский (Russian)
статуя Кришны, вывозимая на ежегодном праздненстве, безжалостная сила, оружие большой разрушительной силы, могущественная группа, многоосный грузовик

Español (Spanish)
n. - monstruo destructivo, fuerza irresistible

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - långtradare, jättetruck, (bildl) ångvält

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
札格纳特, 讫里什那神像

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 札格納特, 訖里什那神像

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 인도의 크리슈나 신상, 거대한 파괴력이 있는 것, 초대형 폭주트럭

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 圧倒的な破壊力, 長距離トラック, 不可抗力

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) اله الكون عند الهنود, قوة عارمه تبيد كل ما يعترضها‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮משאית ענקית, מפלצת דורסנית, אמונה התובעת קורבנות, כוח או עצם כלשהו גדולים מאד‬

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