missile

American  

[mis-uhl, -ahyl] / ˈmɪs əl, -aɪl /

noun

• missiles
  plural

1. an object or weapon for throwing, hurling, or shooting, as a stone, bullet, or arrow.

2. guided missile.

3. ballistic missile.

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adjective

1. capable of being thrown, hurled, or shot, as from the hand or a gun.

2. used or designed for discharging missiles.

missile British  

/ ˈmɪsaɪl /

noun

1. any object or weapon that is thrown at a target or shot from an engine, gun, etc

2. 1. a rocket-propelled weapon that flies either in a fixed trajectory (ballistic missile) or in a trajectory that can be controlled during flight (guided missile)

   2. ( as modifier )

      a missile carrier

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• missiles
  plural

Etymology

Origin of missile

1600–10; < Latin, neuter of missilis, equivalent to miss ( us ) (past participle of mittere to send, throw) + -ilis -ile

Explanation

A missile is an object that can be projected toward a target. Examples include a spitball shot through a straw, a poison-tipped arrow sent via bow, or a self-propelled heat-seeking rocket, designed to take out targets at long range. When you learn about the Cuban Missile Crisis in history, the missiles in question were guided rockets loaded with nuclear warheads, supplied to the Cubans by the Soviet Union. A missile defense strategy is one where you send up defensive missile to blow up your enemy's offensive ones before they can reach you.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

missile missiles

We’ve examined how both countries are escalating long-range drone and missile strikes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

The U.K. is also designing a ballistic missile for Ukraine.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

The UK hopes to have a new cruise missile ready by the end of the year.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

A 2002 hit on the French presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Chevenement -- with a pineapple-flavoured missile at the Paris book fair -- would lead custard-pie throwing to be ruled a criminal offence.

From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026

That didn’t stop Langley engineers from imagining how the missile bodies and rocket engines and reentry problems involved in high-speed flight research might also apply to space vehicles.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

Both are cheaper than regular missiles, allowing for large-scale production, and could further stretch Ukraine’s air defenses, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Humans mostly shop at Acme, too, with Green slapping its logo on normal cellphones, computers and, yikes, government missiles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

The Shahed drones, now more like missiles, were capable of flying up to around 300 miles an hour—roughly three times as fast as older versions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

Ukraine has embarked on a programme to develop its own interceptor missiles with European support – known as Project Freya.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

Penkovsky had gotten his hands on a technical manual describing the same R-12 missiles that the CIA had detected in Cuba.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

Related Words

• ammunition
• bomb
• bullet
• projectile
• rocket