heat-seeking
Britishadjective
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(of a detecting device) able to detect sources of infrared radiation
a heat-seeking camera
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(of a missile) able to detect and follow a source of heat, as from an aircraft engine
a heat-seeking missile
Other Word Forms
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.
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
“He’s a heat-seeking missile,” fellow Bruins linebacker Kain Medrano said, “just going in there and causing havoc in any way he can.”
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 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
Anytime hors d’oeuvres appear, I scan with the laser focus of a heat-seeking missile, praying for a mini crabcake sighting.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 20, 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
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.
