"The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's Dreadnought, had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts," and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts."
Yet, if one reads records of naval battles involving "dreadnought-level" ships, they would almost always be referred to as battleships. Even the description of Battle of Jutland reads:
It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war.
The term dreadnought being scarcely used (or stated as dreadnought battleships when just dreadnought would suffice), and in writings of WW2, it is pretty much non existent. Was the term just outdated, or is my understanding of the use of the term flawed? Wouldn't it be much simpler to just say dreadnoughts? If it is so scarcely used, I don't get the description of the term either, with "similar battleships came to be known as dreadnoughts", when it wasn't that widely used..
Mainly because the distinction between dreadnoughts and pre-dreadnoughts became unnecessary as the pre-dreadnoughts started getting rarer. More can always be said on the matter, but I do believe you'll be interested in this previous thread on the matter, with u/King_of_Men providing the outline, and a good bit of discussion in the comments beneath it.