MISSILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does missile mean? 

• MISSILE (noun)
  The noun MISSILE has 2 senses:

1. a rocket carrying a warhead of conventional or nuclear explosives; may be ballistic or directed by remote control

2. a weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled

  Familiarity information: MISSILE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISSILE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rocket carrying a warhead of conventional or nuclear explosives; may be ballistic or directed by remote control

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("missile" is a kind of...):

arm; weapon; weapon system (any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or hunting)

projectile; rocket (any vehicle self-propelled by a rocket engine)

Meronyms (parts of "missile"):

nose (a front that resembles a human nose (especially the front of an aircraft))

vane (a fin attached to the tail of an arrow, bomb or missile in order to stabilize or guide it)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "missile"):

air-to-air missile (a missile designed to be launched from one airplane at another)

air-to-ground missile; air-to-surface missile (a missile designed to be launched from an airplane at a target on the ground)

ballistic missile (a missile that is guided in the first part of its flight but falls freely as it approaches target)

guided missile (a rocket-propelled missile whose path can be controlled during flight either by radio signals or by internal homing devices)

heat-seeking missile (a missile with a guidance system that directs it toward targets emitting infrared radiation (as the emissions of a jet engine))

sidewinder (air-to-air missile with infrared homing device)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

missile; projectile

Hypernyms ("missile" is a kind of...):

arm; weapon; weapon system (any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or hunting)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "missile"):

arrow (a projectile with a straight thin shaft and an arrowhead on one end and stabilizing vanes on the other; intended to be shot from a bow)

boomerang; throw stick; throwing stick (a curved piece of wood; when properly thrown will return to thrower)

bullet; slug (a projectile that is fired from a gun)

cannon ball; cannonball; round shot (a solid projectile that in former times was fired from a cannon)

dart (a small narrow pointed missile that is thrown or shot)

seeker (a missile equipped with a device that is attracted toward some kind of emission (heat or light or sound or radio waves))

pellet; shot (a solid missile discharged from a firearm)

spitball (a projectile made by chewing a piece of paper and shaping it into a sphere)

 Context examples 

But even as he reached, and before his fingers had closed on the missile, she sprang back into safety; and he knew that she was used to having things thrown at her.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I moved from hiding-place to hiding-place, always pursued, or so it seemed to me, by these terrifying missiles.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The other held the loop of the rope which would release the catch and send the unwieldy missile hurtling through the air.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The mate cursed him in the darkness, and the next moment some missile struck the galley a sharp rap.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He would shriek for help on the most improper occasions,—as when we had a little dinner-party, or a few friends in the evening,—and would come tumbling out of the kitchen, with iron missiles flying after him.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The whole village was roused; some fled, some attacked me, until, grievously bruised by stones and many other kinds of missile weapons, I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare, and making a wretched appearance after the palaces I had beheld in the village.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Here was meat and life, and it was guarded by no mysterious fires nor flying missiles of flame.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

With a cry John seized the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth missile hurtling through the air.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The moment before we had been leaping through the sunshine, the clear sky above us, the sea breaking and rolling wide to the horizon, and a ship, vomiting smoke and fire and iron missiles, rushing madly upon us.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was always keyed up, alert for attack, wary of being attacked, with an eye for sudden and unexpected missiles, prepared to act precipitately and coolly, to leap in with a flash of teeth, or to leap away with a menacing snarl.

(White Fang, by Jack London)