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rocket engine

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noun
a reaction engine that produces a thrust due to an exhaust consisting entirely of material, as oxidizer, fuel, and inert matter, that has been carried with the engine in the vehicle it propels, none of the propellant being derived from the medium through which the vehicle moves.
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Also called rocket, rocket motor .

Origin of rocket engine

First recorded in 1930–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rocket engine in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for rocket engine

rocket engine

noun
a reaction engine in which a fuel and oxidizer are burnt in a combustion chamber, the products of combustion expanding through a nozzle and producing thrustAlso called: rocket motor
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

Scientific definitions for rocket engine

rocket engine

An engine used to produce a jet of hot gases to propel a rocket. The jet is produced by combustion of a fuel with other chemicals stored in the rocket. Since they do not rely on the oxygen in the atmosphere for combustion, rocket engines can operate in space. Compare turbojet.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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