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heat-seeking

British  

adjective

  1. (of a detecting device) able to detect sources of infrared radiation

    a heat-seeking camera

  2. (of a missile) able to detect and follow a source of heat, as from an aircraft engine

    a heat-seeking missile

"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

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They also reportedly have dispensers for chaff -- metal shavings that distract radar-guided missiles -- and flares that blind heat-seeking missiles.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Defense Department has placed significantly fewer orders for Alloy Surfaces’ pyrophoric airborne decoys, which the company manufactures in Philadelphia and are used as protection against heat-seeking missiles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025

Backdrop Home, in particular, has zeroed in with shameful, heat-seeking precision on aesthetically obsessed millennials who crave curves and architectural significance but can’t afford the homes that have them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2024

Three such titles this year are a heat-seeking troika that involve American notables who, after a period of relative domestic quiet, have showily returned to the international stage.

From New York Times ● May 24, 2024

But he remembered from his science and technology studies at school that the search planes used heat-seeking devices which could identify body warmth and would home in on two humans huddled in shrubbery.

From "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

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