Library / English Dictionary

MISSILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (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

Synonyms:

missile; projectile

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)

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)

Credits

 Context examples: 

He was a sneak and a thief, a mischief-maker, a fomenter of trouble; and irate squaws told him to his face, the while he eyed them alert and ready to dodge any quick-flung missile, that he was a wolf and worthless and bound to come to an evil end.

(White Fang, by Jack London)