dragnet

C2+ Topic:Space, Position & Direction

US /ˈdræɡnɛt/ UK /ˈdraɡnɛt/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a systematic search for criminals; a net drawn along the bottom

Police threw a dragnet across the city to find the suspect.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a systematic search for... roundup sweeptrawlseine

Word family

Related forms drag net

Etymology

A compound of 'drag' + 'net', literally a net dragged along the bottom; the figurative police sense is 19th-century. 'Net' is from Old English 'net(t)'.

dragan Old English net Old English

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Topics

Space, Position & Direction

# dragnet

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈdræɡnɛt
**IPA (UK):** ˈdraɡnɛt

## Meanings
1. a systematic search for criminals; a net drawn along the bottom

## Examples
- Police threw a dragnet across the city to find the suspect.

## Synonyms
- roundup
- sweep
- trawl
- seine

## Related Forms
- drag
- net

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: dragan
- Root: net

## Etymology
A compound of 'drag' + 'net', literally a net dragged along the bottom; the figurative police sense is 19th-century. 'Net' is from Old English 'net(t)'.

## AI Etymology
Dragnet is a compound of 'drag' + 'net', literally a net dragged along the bottom; the figurative police sense is 19th-century. 'Net' is from Old English 'net(t)'. The ancestry passes through Old English dragan and Old English net. In present use as a noun, it means "a systematic search for criminals; a net drawn along the bottom", keeping the historical formation close to the word's ordinary semantic work. The figurative development named in the history lets the word move from a concrete base into a broader descriptive use. Related words include drag and net.

## Topics
- Space, Position & Direction

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dragnet

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