corvette
noun
Simple meaning
A lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kawrvehtSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kɔɹˈvɛt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
nautical
In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.
science fictionby extension
A starship of comparable role
A type of sports car, manufactured by Chevrolet from 1953 to present.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: In a modern navy, a lightly armed and armoured blue water warship, smaller than a frigate, capable of transoceanic duty.
Used this way, corvette is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It stays understated rather than dramatic. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Mild
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Military
- Historical writing
- News/reporting
- Ethics/values
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use corvette
- “The navy deployed a swift corvette to protect the coastal waters.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.