ranged

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of range.

   Temperatures ranged between freezing and mild throughout the week.

   The herd ranged over hundreds of miles of open grassland.

   Note

   Range forms its past regularly by adding only -d, and one spelling serves as both the past tense (the herd ranged widely) and the participle (the herd has ranged widely). The participle is especially at home in the positioning sense, where something is set in opposition: the forces ranged against them. Keep it distinct from the adjustable-reach adjective, which describes a weapon rather than an action.

2. 2
   adjective

   Of a projectile or a system that fires projectiles, having a range that can be adjusted.

   The ranged artillery piece let crews adjust its reach for distant or nearby targets.

   Because the new shells are ranged, gunners can set each one to land at a chosen distance.

   Similaradjustable

   Note

   A term from the vocabulary of projectiles and the systems that fire them. It applies to a weapon, launcher or sight built so that its reach can be set. Unlike the verb forms, it qualifies a noun directly, as in a ranged sight or a ranged weapon. It can also be graded, with comparative and superlative forms more ranged and most ranged.

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