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definitions

cruise missile

See more synonyms for cruise missile on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a winged guided missile designed to deliver a conventional or nuclear warhead by flying at low altitudes to avoid detection by radar.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cruise missile

Contemporary Examples of cruise missile

  • The U.S. campaign in Yemen has used conventional weaponry on occasion: sorties by Harriers and even some cruise-missile strikes.

    The Daily Beast logo
    America’s Secret Libya War

    John Barry

    August 30, 2011

  • The cruise-missile attacks were aimed largely at degrading Libya's antiaircraft defenses, which were considerable.

    The Daily Beast logo
    Why Libyan War Is America's War

    Stephen L. Carter

    March 22, 2011

British Dictionary definitions for cruise missile

cruise missile

noun
  1. an air-breathing low-flying subsonic missile that is continuously powered and guided throughout its flight and carries a warhead
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
cruise missile in Culture

cruise missile

A military missile equipped with an onboard computer that allows it to guide itself on a preprogrammed course over long distances by sensing the terrain and comparing it to maps stored in its memory. (See smart weapons (see also smart weapons).)

Note

Cruise missiles first came into public awareness during the Persian Gulf War.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.