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• intermediate range ballistic missile
  intermediate range ballistic missile

  noun

  any supersonic missile that has a range of 800 to 1,500 nautical miles (1,500 to 2,800 km) and follows a ballistic trajectory after a powered, guided launching. IRBM, I.R.B.M.
• intermediate-range ballistic missile
  intermediate-range ballistic missile

  A missile that carries nuclear warheads and is launched from the ground or submarines, but that has a range of only a few hundred to fifteen hundred miles.

intermediate range ballistic missile

American  

noun

1. any supersonic missile that has a range of 800 to 1,500 nautical miles (1,500 to 2,800 km) and follows a ballistic trajectory after a powered, guided launching. IRBM, I.R.B.M.

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intermediate range ballistic missile British  

noun

1.  IRBM.  a missile that follows a ballistic trajectory with a medium range, normally of the order of 750–1500 miles

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intermediate-range ballistic missile Cultural  

1. A missile that carries nuclear warheads and is launched from the ground or submarines, but that has a range of only a few hundred to fifteen hundred miles.

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Etymology

Origin of intermediate range ballistic missile

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intermediate range ballistic missile intermediate-range ballistic missile

In October 2022, North Korea fired an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years.

From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2022

North Korea has fired a suspected intermediate range ballistic missile over part of northern Japan.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2022

It is large enough to conceal the first stage of North Korea’s Musudan intermediate range ballistic missile, its Unha space-launch vehicle, or a new rocket engine.

From Reuters ● Jan. 28, 2016

But what primarily concerned the U.S. was the need for intermediate range ballistic missile bases in Europe.

From Time Magazine Archive

China's capacity to strike Australia would grow over the next decade as "the DF-27 intermediate-range ballistic missile, and potentially a conventionally armed intercontinental ballistic missile, grow in service numbers", it said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026

The launches followed a separate round of North Korean cruise missile tests last week and a Jan. 14 test-firing of the country’s first solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2024

But it comes as the North has ramped up military action in recent weeks, including claiming to have deployed a new solid-fuelled intermediate-range ballistic missile on Sunday.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2024

One of them was an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan and demonstrated a range capable of reaching the Pacific U.S. territory of Guam and beyond.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 18, 2022

It has also flown an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan.

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2021

Related Words

• intercontinental ballistic missile
• surface-to-air missile