moonshot

or moon shot

[ moon-shot ]

noun
  1. the act or procedure of launching a rocket or spacecraft to the moon.

  2. a very challenging and innovative project or undertaking: Technology companies are investing in moonshots that address the world’s greatest problems.

  1. Baseball. a high-velocity home run in which the ball reaches an extraordinary height: What could be more exciting than a bases-clearing moonshot over the right field wall in the bottom of the eleventh inning?

adjective
  1. relating to or noting a very challenging and innovative project or undertaking: His department takes moonshot ideas and brings them to reality.

Origin of moonshot

1
An Americanism dating back to 1945–50 for def. 1; moon + shot1; the baseball sense, also capitalized as Moon shot, was named after Wallace Wade “Wally” Moon (1930–2018), U.S. baseball player, whose home run helped the Dodgers win the 1959 pennant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use moonshot in a sentence

  • This could be the moon shot for the next decade that unifies our country.

  • By and by, however, the moon shot above the cloud, and that which before had been obscured by darkness became plain.

    The Birthright | Joseph Hocking
  • Above the peaks the stars glittered, and high in the sky the moon shot a path of clear light down the river itself.

    The Daughter of a Magnate | Frank H. Spearman
  • Large shadows fell about him when for an instant the moon shot clear of a cloud.

    A Son of Hagar | Sir Hall Caine
  • Now and again the moon shot a golden beam of light across their trail.

    The Purple Flame | Roy J. Snell

British Dictionary definitions for moonshot

moonshot

/ (ˈmuːnˌʃɒt) /


noun
  1. the launching of a spacecraft, rocket, etc, to the moon

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