torpedo
Americannoun
plural
torpedoes-
a self-propelled, cigar-shaped missile containing explosives and often equipped with a homing device, launched from a submarine or other warship, for destroying surface vessels or other submarines.
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any of various submarine explosive devices for destroying hostile ships, as a mine.
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a cartridge of gunpowder, dynamite, or the like, exploded in an oil well to facilitate the extraction of oil from the well.
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a detonating device fastened to the top of a rail so as to be exploded by the pressure of a locomotive or car, thus giving an audible signal to members of a train crew.
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any of various other explosive devices, as a firework that consists of an explosive wrapped up with gravel in a piece of tissue paper and that detonates when thrown forcibly on the ground or against a hard surface.
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Also called torpedo fish. an electric ray, especially Torpedo nobiliana, of the Atlantic Ocean.
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an electric catfish, Malapterurus electricus, inhabiting waters of tropical central Africa and the Nile valley.
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Informal. a hero sandwich.
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Slang. a gangster hired as a murderer.
verb (used with object)
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to attack, hit, damage, or destroy with torpedoes.
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to explode a torpedo in (an oil well) to facilitate the extraction of oil.
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to undermine, ruin, or destroy.
He torpedoed our plans.
verb (used without object)
noun
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a cylindrical self-propelled weapon carrying explosives that is launched from aircraft, ships, or submarines and follows an underwater path to hit its target
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obsolete a submarine mine
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a firework containing gravel and a percussion cap that explodes when dashed against a hard surface
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a detonator placed on a railway line as a danger signal
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any of various electric rays of the genus Torpedo
verb
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to hit (a ship, etc) with one or a number of torpedoes
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to render ineffective; destroy or wreck
to torpedo the administration's plan
Regionalisms
See hero sandwich.
Other Word Forms
- torpedo-like adjective
- torpedolike adjective
- untorpedoed adjective
Etymology
Origin of torpedo
1510–20; < Latin torpēdō numbness, torpidity, electric ray, equivalent to torpē ( re ) to be stiff ( torpid 1 ) + -dō noun suffix
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 conflict has mushroomed to draw in nations around the Middle East, sending energy markets into a tailspin and threatening to torpedo the global economy.
From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026
“The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win.”
From Barron's • Mar. 6, 2026
Did I realize that I was about to torpedo my political career?
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2026
It also has significant stockpiles of short-range missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases in the Gulf and ships in the Strait of Hormuz, along with significant stockpiles of antiship cruise missiles and torpedo boats.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 18, 2026
Diving at five hundred miles per hour, they saw the docks, and tied up there, as the briefers had told them, were four torpedo boats and one bigger patrol ship.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
