launch

¹ American  

[lawnch, lahnch] / lɔntʃ, lɑntʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to set (a boat or ship) in the water.

2. to float (a newly constructed boat or ship) usually by allowing to slide down inclined ways into the water.

3. to send forth, catapult, or release, as a self-propelled vehicle or weapon.

   Rockets were launched midway in the battle.

   The submarine launched its torpedoes and dived rapidly.

4. to start (a person) on a course, career, etc.

5. to set going; initiate.

   to launch a scheme.

   Synonyms:

   institute, inaugurate

6. to throw; hurl.

   to launch a spear.

7. to start (a new venture) or promote (a new product).

   They launched a new breakfast cereal.

8. Computers. to start (a software program).

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verb (used without object)

1. to burst out or plunge boldly or directly into action, speech, etc.

2. to start out or forth; push out or put forth on the water.

noun

1. the act of launching.

launch ² American  

[lawnch, lahnch] / lɔntʃ, lɑntʃ /

noun

1. a heavy open or half-decked boat propelled by oars or by an engine.

2. a large utility boat carried by a warship.

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launch ¹ British  

/ lɔːntʃ /

verb

1. to move (a vessel) into the water

2. to move (a newly built vessel) into the water for the first time

3. (tr)

   1. to start off or set in motion

      to launch a scheme

   2. to put (a new product) on the market

4. (tr) to propel with force

5. to involve (oneself) totally and enthusiastically

   to launch oneself into work

6. (tr) to set (a missile, spacecraft, etc) into motion

7. (tr) to catapult (an aircraft), as from the deck of an aircraft carrier

8. to start talking or writing (about)

   he launched into a story

9. to start (out) on a fresh course

10. informal to spend a lot of money

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noun

1. an act or instance of launching

launch ² British  

/ lɔːntʃ /

noun

1. a motor driven boat used chiefly as a transport boat

2. the largest of the boats of a man-of-war

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Usage

Where does launch come from? Rocket ships and medieval knights wouldn’t seem like they have a lot in common. We launch rocket ships into outer space—something those old knights, trotting around on horseback and wielding their lances, could hardly have ever imagined. Launch entered English around 1300–50. Back then, launch meant “to rush, spring (into motion), send forth, hurl (a weapon).” Launch comes from French, which in turn comes from Late Latin lanceāre, “to wield a lance.” This verb, lanceāre, is based on the Latin noun lancea, “lance, spear.” The Latin lancea may ultimately come from an ancient Celtic word. As you’ve probably guessed, the Latin lancea is the ultimate source of the English lance, originally “a long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head, used as a weapon by knights and cavalry soldiers in charging.” Slightly older than the verb launch, lance entered English around 1250–1300. Now, the Late Latin verb lanceāre also yields (through French) the English verb lance. Today, that verb is mainly used for actions of piercing and making incisions—much finer and more careful cuts, thankfully, than resulted from a knight’s lance. But in the early 1300s, lance was effectively a synonym for launch, also meaning “to throw or hurl.”Dig deeperWhen did we start saying we launched such things as boats? That sense of launch is so far first evidenced, as it happens, during the heydey of knights launching lances. This sense of launch, meaning “to a set (a boat or ship) in the water,” is recorded in the Alliterative Morte Arthure, a remarkable poem about that legendary leader of knights, King Arthur, dated to around 1400. The basic, underlying sense of launch (“to send forth”) has inspired many other metaphorical extensions, from launching careers and launching products to book launches, campaign launches, and, by the time we entered the Space Age, rocket launches.

Other Word Forms

• launchable
  adjective
• unlaunched
  adjective
• well-launched
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of launch¹

First recorded in 1300–50; late Middle English launche, from Anglo-French lancher, from Late Latin lanceāre “to wield a lance”; see lance ¹

Origin of launch²

First recorded in 1690–1700; from Spanish, Portuguese lancha, earlier Portuguese lanchara, first attested in 1515 in an account of boats encountered near the Strait of Malacca; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Malay lancharan, derivative of lanchar “swift,” unless modern Malay lancha is from Portuguese

Explanation

To launch something is to propel it or get it going, usually from a standing position. You can launch a rocket, a career, a product or even a watermelon. Either way, you're getting it off the ground. Launch often means to start something, but to start it in a big way: "The launch of the shuttle was also the launch of a new era in space travel." Time was, when a singer finished making her record, the company would simply "release it." Eventually, though, that wasn't enough. Now a record needs "a launch" — a full-scale media blitz to get people excited enough to buy it.

Example Sentences

Quality issues have been fixed, headcount has been rightsized and the Valhalla launch is on time, the bank says.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

CME Group plans to launch futures that would let investors bet on the price of computing power.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026

There is a big moment coming in the next 24 hours: for Wes Streeting, deciding to go for it or not, and the tone and tenor of any launch that he is planning.

From BBC • May 13, 2026

James Litinsky, the CEO of MP Materials -- in which the government has a 15 percent stake, to launch separation operations -- said separation activities will begin "imminently" at the Mountain Pass site.

From Barron's • May 13, 2026

At fifteen minutes to takeoff, they paused again to wait for clouds over the launch site to float past.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

Related Words

• commence
• inaugurate
• institute
• introduce
• open
• start