torpedo
Americannoun
-
torpedoes
plural
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a self-propelled, cigar-shaped missile containing explosives and often equipped with a homing device, launched from a submarine or other warship, for destroying surface vessels or other submarines.
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any of various submarine explosive devices for destroying hostile ships, as a mine.
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a cartridge of gunpowder, dynamite, or the like, exploded in an oil well to facilitate the extraction of oil from the well.
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a detonating device fastened to the top of a rail so as to be exploded by the pressure of a locomotive or car, thus giving an audible signal to members of a train crew.
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any of various other explosive devices, as a firework that consists of an explosive wrapped up with gravel in a piece of tissue paper and that detonates when thrown forcibly on the ground or against a hard surface.
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Also called torpedo fish. an electric ray, especially Torpedo nobiliana, of the Atlantic Ocean.
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an electric catfish, Malapterurus electricus, inhabiting waters of tropical central Africa and the Nile valley.
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Informal. a hero sandwich.
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Slang. a gangster hired as a murderer.
verb (used with object)
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torpedoes,
present (3rd person singular)
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torpedoed,
past participle, past
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torpedoing
present participle
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to attack, hit, damage, or destroy with torpedoes.
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to explode a torpedo in (an oil well) to facilitate the extraction of oil.
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to undermine, ruin, or destroy.
He torpedoed our plans.
verb (used without object)
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torpedoes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
torpedoed,
past participle, past
-
torpedoing
present participle
noun
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a cylindrical self-propelled weapon carrying explosives that is launched from aircraft, ships, or submarines and follows an underwater path to hit its target
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obsolete a submarine mine
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a firework containing gravel and a percussion cap that explodes when dashed against a hard surface
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a detonator placed on a railway line as a danger signal
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any of various electric rays of the genus Torpedo
verb
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to hit (a ship, etc) with one or a number of torpedoes
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to render ineffective; destroy or wreck
to torpedo the administration's plan
Regionalisms
See hero sandwich.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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torpedosimple
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torpedoessimple
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have torpedoedperfect
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has torpedoedperfect
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am torpedoingprogressive
-
are torpedoingprogressive
-
is torpedoingprogressive
-
have been torpedoingperfect progressive
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has been torpedoingperfect progressive
Past
-
torpedoedsimple
-
had torpedoedperfect
-
was torpedoingprogressive
-
were torpedoingprogressive
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had been torpedoingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of torpedo
1510–20; < Latin torpēdō numbness, torpidity, electric ray, equivalent to torpē ( re ) to be stiff ( see torpid 1) + -dō noun suffix
Explanation
A torpedo is a type of missile or bomb fired underwater. To torpedo is to attack with torpedoes. Torpedoes are cigar-shaped projectiles that are used to attack other submarines or boats. The word torpedo comes from the name of a kind of electric ray that numbs you with its sting (torpediniformes). Torpedoes can also be used to attack a target on land. When a submarine fires torpedoes, they're torpedoing the target. Torpedoes explode upon impact, and they're very powerful weapons.
Vocabulary lists containing torpedo
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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:
How big a tax torpedo hits your face depends on how much retirement income you receive—and how it’s structured.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Hutchinson is a longtime community activist and commentator, and he had just launched a torpedo in the direction of City Hall.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
If your goal is to save money on taxes, detonating the tax torpedo is not ideal.
From MarketWatch ● May 8, 2026
There are training bats, wood bats, torpedo bats and backpacks to carry them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026
It was a seventy-minute flight to the target, a small torpedo boat base in the port town of Hon Gai.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
The USS Joseph P. Kennedy — a Gearing-class destroyer once equipped with Mark 32 torpedoes, anti-submarine missiles, and nuclear depth charges — has been decorated for Christmas.
From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2025
But a whopping betrayal torpedoes the friendship—and Nora’s delusions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
The drone, capable of carrying payloads including torpedoes, is expected to reach production by the end of 2028.
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
The Astute class is the Royal Navy's current fleet of attack submarines, which have nuclear-powered engines and are armed with conventional torpedoes and missiles.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025
Winning jockeys are daring jockeys, capable of gunning a horse through the narrowest hole with damn-the- torpedoes bravado.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
The strange legal saga that torpedoed Jeff Shell’s career at Paramount Skydance has ended with a whimper.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
As if to underscore the narrowness of the margin, the ship on which Ms. Wisse escaped Europe was torpedoed on its way back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
White House officials gave him the boot last summer after he torpedoed gene therapies, causing a ruckus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
The Iranian warship Iris Dena was given permission by India to dock three days before it was torpedoed by a US submarine, India has said.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2026
Less than an hour had passed since the ship was torpedoed.
From "Salt to the Sea" by Ruta Sepetys
Both sides have have blamed last-minute changes for torpedoing the tentative deal.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Perhaps the Rogers campaign is correct, and El-Sayed’s connection to the Twitch streamer will prove to be uniquely toxic, torpedoing his chances in the general.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
A US submarine this week torpedoing an Iranian warship during the Middle East conflict raised the crucial question of who controls the seas during wartime.
From Barron's ● Mar. 6, 2026
“Although we sisters are supposed to be invisible, God has nevertheless given us eyes and ears,” she announces to a roomful of cardinals during an especially brutal torpedoing session.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2024
Even the New York Press has become more reasonable, and capable of discussing war questions impartially; and this was notably the case over the torpedoing of the Armenian.
From My Three Years in America by Johann Heinrich Andreas Hermann Albrecht Graf von Bernstorff
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.
