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missile

UK/ˈmɪs.aɪl/US/ˈmɪs.(ə)l/
nounB2Very common — you will meet it every day · #2,034 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: missiles

A missile is a weapon that flies to its target. A guided missile, launch the missile, a missile strike.

The modern sense means a guided one, with a rocket at the back and something steering at the front, which is what separates a missile from a shell. In older and legal use, any thrown object is a missile, which is why a bottle at a match is one.

Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Ben Houtkooper 34th Red Bull Infantry Division · Public domain

Definitions of missile

  1. 1nounmissileA weapon that flies to its target.B2

    “The warship shot down the missile before it could reach the coast.”

missile is a weapon.

Where it comes from

Latin missile means a thrown weapon, from mittere, to send.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *mey- (change)

  2. Latin

    missile — thrown weapon, projectile

  3. English, today

    missile

Built from

  • missilis · Latin — throwable, capable of being thrown
  • mittere · Latin — to send

From Latin missile (“thrown weapon, projectile”), neuter of missilis (“throwable, capable of being thrown”), from mittere (“to send”). From 1611. Compare Middle French missile (“projectile”), from 1636.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

missile in the wild

  • In 1959, the US government deployed Thor nuclear missiles in England, an initiative known as Project Emily.

    Cuban Missile Crisis

  • In 1961 the US put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey.

    Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Missiles are also generally guided towards specific targets termed as guided missiles or guided rockets.

    Missile

  • In 1994, Hughes Aircraft, having purchased General Dynamics' missile division in 1992, outbid McDonnell Douglas to become the sole supplier of Tomahawks.

    Tomahawk missile

  • In 2016, the US Department of Defense purchased 149 Tomahawk Block IV missiles for $202.3 million.

    Tomahawk missile

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the mittere family

promiseadmit

missile — used about once every 253 pages · #2,034 · point at the bar for the others