Meanings
nounmissile (plural missiles)
plural missiles
- Any object used as a weapon by being thrown or fired through the air, such as stone, arrow or bullet.
The Rhodians, who used leaden bullets, were able to project their missiles twice as far as the Persian slingers, who used large stones.
2 more examples
And I saw askant the armies, / I saw as in noiseless dreams hundreds of battle-flags, / Borne through the smoke of the battles and pierc’d with missiles I saw them, / And carried hither and yon through the smoke, and torn and bloody, / And at last but a few shreds left on the staffs, (and all in silence,) / And the staffs all splinter’d and broken.
1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poemsRiot officers and police on horseback were deployed to disperse the crowns, but they came under attack from bottles, fireworks and other missiles.
2012, Paragraph 24, R v Blackshaw (2012) WLR 1126 - governmentA self-propelled projectile whose trajectory can be adjusted after it is launched.
That missile is explosive enough to kill hundreds.
Synonyms & antonyms
Opposite
Narrower
air-to-air missileair-to-surface missileanti-ballistic missileantiballistic missileantimissileanti-ship missileantiship missileballistic missilecruise missileEuromissileguided missilehypermissilehypersonic missileintercontinental ballistic missilePatriot missilesubmissilesupermissilesurface-to-air missilesurface-to-surface missileTOW missile
nouna weapon that is forcibly thrown or projected at a targets but is not self-propelled
Similar
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmissile“thrown weapon, projectile”
- Englishmissile
From Latin missile (“thrown weapon, projectile”), neuter of missilis (“throwable, capable of being thrown”), from mittere (“to send”). From 1611. Compare Middle French missile (“projectile”), from 1636.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans missiel
- missielself-propelled, guidable projectile
Ancient Greek βέλος
- βέλος (bélos)air-based weapon
Arabic قَذِيفَة, صَارُوخ
- قَذِيفَة (qaḏīfa)air-based weapon
- صَارُوخ (ṣārūḵ)air-based weapon
- صَارُوخ (ṣārūḵ)air-based weapon
- صَارُوخ (ṣārūḵ)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- قَذِيفَة (qaḏīfa)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- مَقْذُوف (maqḏūf)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Basque misil
- misilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Bengali ক্ষেপণাস্ত্র, মিসাইল
- ক্ষেপণাস্ত্র (kheponastro)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- মিসাইল (miśail)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Bulgarian снаря́д, куршу́м
- снаря́д (snarjád)air-based weapon
- куршу́м (kuršúm)air-based weapon
- раке́та (rakéta)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Catalan projectil, míssil
- projectilair-based weapon
- míssilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Chinese Mandarin 飛彈 /飞弹, 導彈 /导弹
- 飛彈 /飞弹 (fēidàn)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- 導彈 /导弹 (dǎodàn)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Czech střela, střela
- střelaair-based weapon
- střelaself-propelled, guidable projectile
Danish missil
- missilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Dutch raket
- raketself-propelled, guidable projectile
Esperanto misilo
- misiloself-propelled, guidable projectile
Estonian rakett
- rakettself-propelled, guidable projectile
Finnish heittoase, ammus
- heittoaseair-based weapon
- ammusair-based weapon
- ohjusself-propelled, guidable projectile
French projectile, missile
- projectileair-based weapon
- missileself-propelled, guidable projectile
German Geschoss, Fluggeschoss
- Geschossair-based weapon
- Fluggeschossair-based weapon
- Lenkflugkörperself-propelled, guidable projectile
- Lenkwaffeself-propelled, guidable projectile
Greek βλήμα, πύραυλος
- βλήμα (vlíma)air-based weapon
- πύραυλος (pýravlos)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Hebrew רָקֶטָה, טִיל
- רָקֶטָה (rakéta)air-based weapon
- טִיל (til)air-based weapon
- טִיל (til)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Hindi प्रक्षेपास्त्र, प्रक्षेपास्त्र
- प्रक्षेपास्त्र (prakṣepāstra)air-based weapon
- प्रक्षेपास्त्र (prakṣepāstra)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- राकेट (rākeṭ)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- मिसाइल (misāil)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- प्रक्षेपणास्त्र (prakṣepṇāstra)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Hungarian rakéta, lövedék
- rakétaair-based weapon
- lövedékair-based weapon
- rakétaself-propelled, guidable projectile
- lövedékself-propelled, guidable projectile
Icelandic eldflaug, eldflaug
- eldflaugair-based weapon
- eldflaugself-propelled, guidable projectile
Indonesian peluru kendali, rudal
- peluru kendaliself-propelled, guidable projectile
- rudalself-propelled, guidable projectile
- misilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Irish arm diúractha, diúracán
- arm diúracthaair-based weapon
- diúracánair-based weapon
- diúracánself-propelled, guidable projectile
Italian missile
- missileself-propelled, guidable projectile
Japanese 弾丸, ミサイル
- 弾丸 (dangan)air-based weapon
- ミサイル (misairu)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- 誘導弾 (yūdōdan)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Korean 탄환, 미사일
- 탄환 (tanhwan)air-based weapon
- 미사일 (misail)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- 유도탄 (yudotan)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- 미싸일 (missail)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Latin missile
- missileair-based weapon
Latvian raķete
- raķeteself-propelled, guidable projectile
Lithuanian raketa
- raketaself-propelled, guidable projectile
Malay peluru berpandu
- peluru berpanduself-propelled, guidable projectile
Norwegian Bokmål missil
- missilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Polish pocisk, rakieta
- pociskair-based weapon
- rakietaself-propelled, guidable projectile
- pociskself-propelled, guidable projectile
Portuguese míssil, míssil
- míssilair-based weapon
- míssilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Romanian proiectil, rachetă
- proiectilair-based weapon
- rachetăself-propelled, guidable projectile
Russian снаря́д, пу́ля
- снаря́д (snarjád)air-based weapon
- пу́ля (púlja)air-based weapon
- раке́та (rakéta)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Scottish Gaelic urchair
- urchairair-based weapon
Slovak strela, raketa
- strelaself-propelled, guidable projectile
- raketaself-propelled, guidable projectile
Spanish proyectil, misil
- proyectilair-based weapon
- misilself-propelled, guidable projectile
Swahili kombora
- komboraself-propelled, guidable projectile
Swedish missil, raket
- missilair-based weapon
- raketself-propelled, guidable projectile
- robotself-propelled, guidable projectile
Thai ขีปนาวุธ, จรวด
- ขีปนาวุธ (kǐi-bpà-naa-wút)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- จรวด (jà-rùuat)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Turkish füze
- füzeself-propelled, guidable projectile
Ukrainian снаря́д, ку́ля
- снаря́д (snarjád)air-based weapon
- ку́ля (kúlja)air-based weapon
- раке́та (rakéta)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Urdu راکِٹ, مِیزائِل
- راکِٹ (rākiṭ)self-propelled, guidable projectile
- مِیزائِل (mīzāil)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Vietnamese đạn tự hành
- đạn tự hànhself-propelled, guidable projectile
Welsh teflyn, taflegryn
- teflynair-based weapon
- taflegrynself-propelled, guidable projectile
Yiddish ראַקעט
- ראַקעט (raket)self-propelled, guidable projectile
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with missile
All rhymes →Sounds the same
missal (GA, Canada)
Cite this entry
APA
missile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missile
MLA
“missile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missile. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “missile,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/missile.
Source: missile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.