launch
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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launches,
present (3rd person singular)
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launched,
past participle, past
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launching
present participle
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to set (a boat or ship) in the water.
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to float (a newly constructed boat or ship) usually by allowing to slide down inclined ways into the water.
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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.
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to start (a person) on a course, career, etc.
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to set going; initiate.
to launch a scheme.
- Synonyms:
- institute, inaugurate
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to launch a spear.
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to start (a new venture) or promote (a new product).
They launched a new breakfast cereal.
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Computers. to start (a software program).
verb (used without object)
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launches,
present (3rd person singular)
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launched,
past participle, past
-
launching
present participle
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to burst out or plunge boldly or directly into action, speech, etc.
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to start out or forth; push out or put forth on the water.
noun
noun
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a heavy open or half-decked boat propelled by oars or by an engine.
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a large utility boat carried by a warship.
verb
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to move (a vessel) into the water
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to move (a newly built vessel) into the water for the first time
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(tr)
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to start off or set in motion
to launch a scheme
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to put (a new product) on the market
-
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(tr) to propel with force
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to involve (oneself) totally and enthusiastically
to launch oneself into work
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(tr) to set (a missile, spacecraft, etc) into motion
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(tr) to catapult (an aircraft), as from the deck of an aircraft carrier
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to start talking or writing (about)
he launched into a story
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to start (out) on a fresh course
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informal to spend a lot of money
noun
noun
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a motor driven boat used chiefly as a transport boat
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the largest of the boats of a man-of-war
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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launchsimple
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launchessimple
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have launchedperfect
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has launchedperfect
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am launchingprogressive
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are launchingprogressive
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is launchingprogressive
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have been launchingperfect progressive
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has been launchingperfect progressive
Past
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launchedsimple
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had launchedperfect
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was launchingprogressive
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were launchingprogressive
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had been launchingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing launch
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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The ACT Reading Test: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The tie-up will also launch Serve’s robots in 100 Chicago restaurants and some in Virginia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
According to TechCrunch, “the private sector can defend against incoming cyberattacks, but not launch of operate them,” a policy that spans several presidential administrations.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Virgin was granted access last year to the Temple Mills International site for maintaining and storing trains, a critical requirement for an operator to launch services.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Peter Thiel’s $250,000 fellowship for dropouts who start ventures is more competitive than ever since its 2011 launch, and Palantir Technologies has started a similar program for high-school graduates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Dana intended to establish a command center there, and from Bryantown launch cavalry patrols through the surrounding countryside, in pursuit of the Lincoln and Seward assassins.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
The dweeb so desperately wanted to be a superhero that he launches a war against real ones in order to turn their powers into weapons he then sells to a gullible public.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
In normal or low-activity times, the Sun launches two to three CMEs a day.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Pyongyang calls them rehearsals for an invasion and has staged missile launches before and after them in the past.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Late last month, the company received a $266 million contract for up to 18 suborbital launches for the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Her ponytails fly as she runs, and she launches herself into my arms.
From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas
The Dinner Table Club, where strangers eat together, also launched in New York City and expanded to L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Bayo Alaba referred himself to the Labour Party over the issue and an internal investigation has been launched.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
Last week, Nvidia launched the Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, an open model that the company said delivered four times the output speed of similar-sized models.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
Another series, RummiKlub LA, launched in early 2025 and has hosted three events in New York City.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
Six months later the agency launched a different rocket to explore the space between Earth and Venus.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
U.S. hacking laws prohibit individuals and companies from launching cyberattacks.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Dunkin’ is launching its PSL menu next week, with Starbucks’
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
AST SpaceMobile said it now has 13 satellites in orbit after launching six spacecraft within 50 days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Amid growing public opposition to data center development in the United States, Zuckerberg added that Meta is launching a fund to directly support communities around its facilities.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
"I am now doing a diagnostic on the reactor. I am thinking that Johanssen is busy with the launching training. So perhaps I do this diagnostic for her."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
