guided missile frigate
- noun
- /ˈɡaɪdɪd ˈmɪsəl ˈfrɪɡɪt/
- Specialized
- During the naval exercise, a guided missile frigate demonstrated its capabilities by targeting drones with precision.
Examples
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Thus, the plan would rely on its forty-five submarines, eighteen guided missile destroyers, and thirty-two guided missile frigates.
Academic text (1997) -
Destroyers and guided missile frigates are too big to pull skimmers or boom; smaller inshore craft lack endurance for staying at sea for weeks on end.
Blog text (1) -
The guided missile frigate escorted the fleet during its mission in the open sea.
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The guided missile frigate provided crucial protection to the supply ships from enemy attacks during the conflict.
Synonyms
A navy boat built for fighting at sea
A small fast warship with strong weapons that protects larger ships from submarines and planes
A modern warship larger than a destroyer but smaller than a cruiser
A military ship that moves and fights on the water's surface, not underwater
A small military ship that escorts and protects convoys at sea
How Armed
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is transparently built from the constituents: 'frigate' (a type of warship) modified by 'missile' and 'guided' (i.e., equipped with guided missiles), so the overall sense is directly inferable. This is a regular noun-modifier compound pattern common across languages and in English, so a B1 learner who knows the three words should be able to understand the MWE.
Etymology
The noun guided missile frigate names a warship that carries guided missiles, which are missiles that can be guided to a target, on a frigate, a fast ship used to escort others. So the phrase means a fast escort ship armed with guided missiles whose job is 'to protect' other ships.