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.
Synonyms
Examples of juggernaut in a Sentence
EW.com, 2 July 2024
Celebrating a season packed with everything from jukebox juggernauts to prickly, provocative dramas, Tony voters spread accolades across a diverse array of shows, signaling an embrace of originality, ingenuity and love of the art form.
—Naveen Kumar, Washington Post, 17 June 2024
Despite that Emmy juggernaut now being out of the way, the category nevertheless is offering up a lot of intrigue, giving Deadline Executive Editor and Chief TV Critic Dominic Patten and Deadline Awards Columnist and Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond a lot to chew on in this week’s TV Talk podcast.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 13 June 2024
But once a ratings juggernaut for the network, the show's popularity has been waining in recents seasons have blamed on conflicting casting dynamics.
—Dave Quinn, Peoplemag, 24 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for juggernaut 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'juggernaut.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Juggernaut.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/juggernaut. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.
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