barrage
Americannoun
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barrages
plural
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Military. a heavy barrier of artillery fire to protect one's own advancing or retreating troops or to stop the advance of enemy troops.
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an overwhelming quantity or explosion, as of words, blows, or criticisms.
a barrage of questions.
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Civil Engineering. an artificial obstruction in a watercourse to increase the depth of the water, facilitate irrigation, etc.
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Mycology. an aversion response of sexually incompatible fungus cultures that are growing in proximity, revealed by a persistent growth gap between them.
verb (used with object)
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barrages,
present (3rd person singular)
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barraged,
past participle, past
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barraging
present participle
noun
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military the firing of artillery to saturate an area, either to protect against an attack or to support an advance
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an overwhelming and continuous delivery of something, as words, questions, or punches
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a usually gated construction, similar to a low dam, across a watercourse, esp one to increase the depth of water to assist navigation or irrigation
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fencing a heat or series of bouts in a competition
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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barragesimple
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barragessimple
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have barragedperfect
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has barragedperfect
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am barragingprogressive
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are barragingprogressive
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is barragingprogressive
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have been barragingperfect progressive
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has been barragingperfect progressive
Past
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barragedsimple
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had barragedperfect
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was barragingprogressive
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were barragingprogressive
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had been barragingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of barrage
1855–60; < French: blocking, barring off, barrier, equivalent to barr ( er ) to bar 1 + -age -age; artillery sense by ellipsis from French tir de barrage barrier fire
Explanation
A barrage is something that comes quickly and heavily — as an attack of bullets or artillery, or a fast spray of words. Sometimes in movies or news footage, the audience gets a glimpse from behind a mounted weapon and sees a heavy rain of bombs or bullets — called a barrage — going toward a target, sending as much POW! as possible to hit a wide area. Words become a barrage when spoken or written in uncontrollable anger or with overflowing emotion: "Her human-rights speech was a barrage of passion. It was hard to keep up with, but we felt the intensity of her cause."
Vocabulary lists containing barrage
Touching Spirit Bear
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Grade 10, List 4
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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:
That wall of sound barrage of guitars and then: “Hey, ho, let’s go!”
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2026
Kyiv's military administration said the barrage damaged residential buildings and several warehouses.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
It’s a malicious and relentless barrage of the mind.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
But faced with a barrage of ads, misinformation, AI slop, toxicity and doom-scrolling, it can feel like the internet is kind of... broken.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Before long an officer appeared before her and unleashed a barrage of sternly delivered questions.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
WESTLAKE: The scoreboard operator will deserve extra pay trying to keep up with Warriors’ scoring barrages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The IDF said two barrages of missiles were detected and intercepted.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
Similarly, Austin grins as Ashley barrages him with her insecurities.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
They husband munitions for less intense but persistent barrages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
The Allies, after much trial and error, learned to use their tanks effectively in coordination with artillery barrages, infantry assaults, and—toward the end of the war—attacks by low-flying aircraft.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
At an annual meeting of financial-aid administrators hosted by the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid earlier this year, people who work in college financial aid barraged government officials with questions about the change.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
United were barraged by jeers from furious fans following the latest miserable result in another troubled season.
From Barron's ● Jan. 11, 2026
In 2002-03, Cheney paid numerous visits to Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Va., and barraged analysts with questions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025
Although community concern peaked in those initial months, Hyperion continues to be barraged by odor complaints, which routinely reach into the hundreds each month.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2024
As our confusion turned to shock and anger, we barraged the little man with questions.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
Aymann Ismail knew something was up when his Egyptian mom started barraging him with Piers Morgan clips.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2023
Those complaints in 2018 and 2020 about Jackson barraging students with social media and text messages, first reported by The Seattle Times, posed no obstacle to Jackson staying on the job.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2023
“They’re barraging us with emails and calls,” Weeks said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2022
Hotels and travel brands also struggle to vet the deluge of travel influencers barraging them with requests for all-expenses-paid vacations in exchange for social media posts.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2022
Seven and Thorn did as she said, surrounding the Nightbeast as best they could and barraging it with combat spells as fast as they could go.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
