moonshot
Americannoun
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the act or procedure of launching a rocket or spacecraft to the moon.
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a very challenging and innovative project or undertaking.
Technology companies are investing in moonshots that address the world’s greatest problems.
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Baseball. a high-velocity home run in which the ball reaches an extraordinary height.
What could be more exciting than a bases-clearing moonshot over the right field wall in the bottom of the eleventh inning?
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of moonshot
An Americanism dating back to 1945–50 moonshot for def. 1; moon + shot 1; the baseball sense, also capitalized as Moon shot, was named after Wallace Wade “Wally” Moon (1930–2018), U.S. baseball player, whose home run helped the Dodgers win the 1959 pennant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The startups Zhipu AI, MiniMax and Moonshot AI are nicknamed China's "AI tigers" -- challenging legacy tech giants on AI foundation model research.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
Moonshot AI's Chinese name, Yue Zhi Anmian, pays tribute to Pink Floyd's album "The Dark Side of the Moon", reflecting the rock music passion of its co-founder Yang Zhilin.
From Barron's • Apr. 24, 2026
Preliminary discussions value DeepSeek at between $10 billion and $30 billion, benchmarking it against Moonshot AI.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 23, 2026
The Wall Street Journal reported in November that Moonshot told some investors that it would aim for an IPO as soon as the second half of 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
Moonshot AI, one of China’s most promising artificial-intelligence startups, is considering changing its corporate structure to pave the way for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, people familiar with the matter said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
