missiles
- 1Plural of missile.
The navy launched a barrage of missiles toward the coastal target.
Defense analysts tracked the incoming missiles on radar.
Note
A plain -s plural that carries both meanings of the singular at once. In talk of warfare it usually means guided weapons, the self-propelled kind whose path can be corrected after launch. It can just as well mean stones, arrows, bullets or anything else hurled as a weapon. The verb is often the clue: guided missiles are launched or tracked, while the broader kind are simply thrown.
The defenders on the wall rained missiles of every kind, stones and arrows alike, on the attackers below.
Bottles and bricks were thrown as missiles at the advancing line.
missiles is a form of missile
missile, noun: A self-propelled flying weapon whose path can be steered or adjusted after it is launched. Full entry
- Forms
- missilemissiles plural
- Spelling
- missile → missiles: add -s
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