missile
[mis-uh l or, esp. British, -ahyl]
- an object or weapon for throwing, hurling, or shooting, as a stone, bullet, or arrow.
- guided missile.
- ballistic missile.
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- capable of being thrown, hurled, or shot, as from the hand or a gun.
- used or designed for discharging missiles.
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Origin of missile
1600–10; < Latin, neuter of missilis, equivalent to miss(us) (past participle of mittere to send, throw) + -ilis -ile
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for missile
Contemporary Examples
The reason pilots would choose to use guns over a bomb or a missile is simple.
We know that the skies are open season for all manner of drone traffic, from missile launchers to beer droppers.
In the later stages of the war, the American-made Stinger missile was introduced and wreaked havoc among the Soviet helicopters.
Like boxers, every missile has a reach, a range, a limit to how far it can hit.
The missile fell back to earth after just 40 seconds in the air.
Historical Examples
He heard the bullets and every form of missile from the cannon whining all about them.
The Rock of ChickamaugaJoseph A. Altsheler
Had he remained where he was the missile would have passed him harmlessly.
War from the InsideFrederick L. (Frederick Lyman) Hitchcock
I was glad that my missile had been thrown away,—that he had not even heard the twang of the bow.
Lord JimJoseph Conrad
Litton cried, raising the only missile he could find, an inkstand.
In a Little TownRupert Hughes
The words were flung like a missile into the face of the brute.
Peak and PrairieAnna Fuller
missile
- any object or weapon that is thrown at a target or shot from an engine, gun, etc
- 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)
- (as modifier)a missile carrier
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin: missilis, from mittere to send
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
Word Origin and History for missile
n.
"thing thrown or discharged as a weapon," is 1650s, from missile (adj.), 1610s, "capable of being thrown," chiefly in phrase missile weapon, from French missile and directly from Latin missilis "that may be thrown or hurled" (also, in plural, as a noun, "weapons that can be thrown, darts, javelins"), from missus "a throwing, hurling," past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission). Sense of "self-propelled rocket or bomb" is first recorded 1738; the modern remote guidance projectile so called from 1945.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper