corvette

UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/kɔːrˈvɛt/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/kɔrˈvɛt/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(kôr vet′)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
cor•vette /kɔrˈvɛt/USA pronunciation   n. [countable]
  1. Militarya wooden warship having one level of guns.
  2. Militarya lightly armed ship, used esp. as a convoy escort, in size between a destroyer and a gunboat.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
cor•vette  (kôr vet′),USA pronunciation n. 
  1. Militarya warship of the old sailing class, having a flush deck and usually one tier of guns.
  2. Militarya lightly armed, fast ship used mostly for convoy escort and ranging in size between a destroyer and a gunboat.
Also, cor•vet  (kôr vet′, kôr′vet).USA pronunciation 
  • Middle Dutch corver pursuit boat (derivative of corf fishing boat, literally, basket), with suffix altered to -ette -ette
  • French, Middle French
  • 1630–40

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
corvette /kɔːˈvɛt/ n
  1. a lightly armed escort warship
Etymology: 17th Century: from Old French, perhaps from Middle Dutch corf basket, small ship, from Latin corbis basket
'corvette' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
frigate

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