An armed force, military fleet, or body of armed soldiers; often used in historical contexts to refer to large coordinated military operations or navies.
From Spanish and Italian armada/armata, derived from Latin armatus (armed). The term became especially famous through the Spanish Armada of 1588, though the word itself means simply 'armed fleet' in Romance languages.
The Spanish Armada was so famous that people forgot the word simply means 'armed things'—it's the same root behind 'armed' and 'armor,' but Romance languages developed it into a specific term for a massive coordinated military force that struck fear across Europe.
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