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dragnet.

A net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈdɹæɡˌnɛt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɹeɪ̯ɡˌnɛt/
  1. A net dragged across the bottom of a body of water.

  2. A heightened effort by law enforcement personnel undertaken in order to capture suspects.

    figuratively
Where this word comes from

From drag + net, probably based on the model of Middle English draynet, dreynett (“dragnet”), Old English dræġnet, dræġnett (“dragnet”), equivalent to dray + net. Cognate with Swedish dragnät, Norwegian dragnett, from Icelandic dragnet.

verb/ˈdɹæɡˌnɛt/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɹeɪ̯ɡˌnɛt/
  1. To drag a net across the bottom of a body of water.

    transitive
  2. To undertake a heightened effort to catch a suspect.

    figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

From drag + net, probably based on the model of Middle English draynet, dreynett (“dragnet”), Old English dræġnet, dræġnett (“dragnet”), equivalent to dray + net. Cognate with Swedish dragnät, Norwegian dragnett, from Icelandic dragnet.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.