launch
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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launches,
present (3rd person singular)
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launched,
past participle, past
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launching
present participle
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to set (a boat or ship) in the water.
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to float (a newly constructed boat or ship) usually by allowing to slide down inclined ways into the water.
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to send forth, catapult, or release, as a self-propelled vehicle or weapon.
Rockets were launched midway in the battle.
The submarine launched its torpedoes and dived rapidly.
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to start (a person) on a course, career, etc.
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to set going; initiate.
to launch a scheme.
- Synonyms:
- institute, inaugurate
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to launch a spear.
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to start (a new venture) or promote (a new product).
They launched a new breakfast cereal.
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Computers. to start (a software program).
verb (used without object)
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launches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
launched,
past participle, past
-
launching
present participle
-
to burst out or plunge boldly or directly into action, speech, etc.
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to start out or forth; push out or put forth on the water.
noun
noun
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a heavy open or half-decked boat propelled by oars or by an engine.
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a large utility boat carried by a warship.
verb
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to move (a vessel) into the water
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to move (a newly built vessel) into the water for the first time
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(tr)
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to start off or set in motion
to launch a scheme
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to put (a new product) on the market
-
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(tr) to propel with force
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to involve (oneself) totally and enthusiastically
to launch oneself into work
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(tr) to set (a missile, spacecraft, etc) into motion
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(tr) to catapult (an aircraft), as from the deck of an aircraft carrier
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to start talking or writing (about)
he launched into a story
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to start (out) on a fresh course
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informal to spend a lot of money
noun
noun
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a motor driven boat used chiefly as a transport boat
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the largest of the boats of a man-of-war
Usage
Where does launch come from? Rocket ships and medieval knights wouldn’t seem like they have a lot in common. We launch rocket ships into outer space—something those old knights, trotting around on horseback and wielding their lances, could hardly have ever imagined. Launch entered English around 1300–50. Back then, launch meant “to rush, spring (into motion), send forth, hurl (a weapon).” Launch comes from French, which in turn comes from Late Latin lanceāre, “to wield a lance.” This verb, lanceāre, is based on the Latin noun lancea, “lance, spear.” The Latin lancea may ultimately come from an ancient Celtic word. As you’ve probably guessed, the Latin lancea is the ultimate source of the English lance, originally “a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.” Slightly older than the verb launch, lance entered English around 1250–1300. Now, the Late Latin verb lanceāre also yields (through French) the English verb lance. Today, that verb is mainly used for actions of piercing and making incisions—much finer and more careful cuts, thankfully, than resulted from a knight’s lance. But in the early 1300s, lance was effectively a synonym for launch, also meaning “to throw or hurl.”Dig deeperWhen did we start saying we launched such things as boats? That sense of launch is so far first evidenced, as it happens, during the heydey of knights launching lances. This sense of launch, meaning “to a set (a boat or ship) in the water,” is recorded in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, a remarkable poem about that legendary leader of knights, King Arthur, dated to around 1400. The basic, underlying sense of launch (“to send forth”) has inspired many other metaphorical extensions, from launching careers and launching products to book launches, campaign launches, and, by the time we entered the Space Age, rocket launches.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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launchsimple
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launchessimple
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have launchedperfect
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has launchedperfect
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am launchingprogressive
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are launchingprogressive
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is launchingprogressive
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have been launchingperfect progressive
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has been launchingperfect progressive
Past
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launchedsimple
-
had launchedperfect
-
was launchingprogressive
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were launchingprogressive
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had been launchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of launch1
First recorded in 1300–50; late Middle English launche, from Anglo-French lancher, from Late Latin lanceāre “to wield a lance”; see lance 1
Origin of launch2
First recorded in 1690–1700; from Spanish, Portuguese lancha, earlier Portuguese lanchara, first attested in 1515 in an account of boats encountered near the Strait of Malacca; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Malay lancharan, derivative of lanchar “swift,” unless modern Malay lancha is from Portuguese
Explanation
To launch something is to propel it or get it going, usually from a standing position. You can launch a rocket, a career, a product or even a watermelon. Either way, you're getting it off the ground. Launch often means to start something, but to start it in a big way: "The launch of the shuttle was also the launch of a new era in space travel." Time was, when a singer finished making her record, the company would simply "release it." Eventually, though, that wasn't enough. Now a record needs "a launch" — a full-scale media blitz to get people excited enough to buy it.
Vocabulary lists containing launch
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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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.
See Examples For:
Since the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, the U.S. and China have developed distinct AI ecosystems.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026
Sales took off with the launch of its big-headed “Pop!” figurines in 2010.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026
R360 originally had a launch date of October 2026, but has postponed its inaugural edition until 2028 after a concerted move against it by eight leading Test nations and the British and Irish Lions.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Now they must launch their adult lives in its shadow, cognizant, in many cases, that they carry the fateful mutation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The hazmats are trying to arrange for the launch to occur when the planets are as close to one another as possible.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
The perspective suddenly enlarges as William launches an invasion fleet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
March 2019: Uefa launches a formal investigation off the back of Der Spiegel's findings.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Updated oral obesity capacity and more than 20 Wegovy pill market launches in 2027 are encouraging, but execution is key.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Fund launches in the space have also picked up; so far, 25 new autocallable ETFs have made their debut in 2026 through Sept. 10, compared with six in all of 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
A chain of post-World War II discoveries launches a revolution in biology.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Government officials have now launched an inquiry into that incident.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
Sandwell Council Trading Standards has confirmed it has launched an investigation into the complaints and has urged anyone with issues to report concerns via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Building on those advances, Seales and a group of venture capitalists, with Italy's permission, launched the Vesuvius Challenge in 2023.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 26, 2026
Amsterdam itself was car-dominated until the 1970s when the Stop de Kindermoord movement was launched in response to the high number of child deaths.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
In the righteous spirit of a man bearing an inconvenient truth, Greg Lippmann, a copy of “Shorting Subprime Mezzanine Tranches” tucked under his arm, launched himself at the institutional investing public.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Earlier this month, it hosted a gathering for artists at Ham Green House in Pill, and is soon launching an artist residency at East Quay in Watchet.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Muse has amassed more than 2.5 million U.S. downloads since launching Sept. 8, according to data from Sensor Tower.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
The “Spider-Man” star is understood to have snapped up his primary residence in Kingston upon Thames, not far from where he grew up, in 2018—before launching into a yearslong renovation in 2020.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026
So now Trump is launching his own news service, which is mostly just a live feed on the White House app and YouTube channel.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
A year after launching Let’s Move!, we were seeing results.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
