Meanings
plural warheads
- The part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition which contains either the nuclear or thermonuclear system, high explosive system, chemical or biological agents, or inert materials intended to inflict damage.
"Multi Bottle Rocket". Possibly the strongest weapon around, it does a lot of damage due to its massive warhead.
1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System1 more example
"To their anchorage off Kodiak," Chuck says. "The Orthos were all ready. They had put together a crew of ex-Navy men, guys who had worked on nuke subs in the past—X-rays, they call them—and they came and took the sub over. As for us, we had no idea that any of this had happened. Until one of the warheads showed up in the goddamn front yard."
1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 300 - slangThe glans penis.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe front part of a guided missile or rocket or torpedo that carries the nuclear or explosive charge or the chemical or biological agents
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From war + head, originally to distinguish a live war head of a torpedo from an inert exercise head. Piecewise doublet of war chief.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic رَأْس حَرْبِيّ
- رَأْس حَرْبِيّ (raʔs ḥarbiyy)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Bulgarian бо́йна глава́
- бо́йна глава́ (bójna glavá)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Chinese Mandarin 彈頭 /弹头, 戰鬥部 /战斗部
- 彈頭 /弹头 (dàntóu)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
- 戰鬥部 /战斗部 (zhàndòubù)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Czech bojová hlavice
- bojová hlavicepart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Danish sprænghoved
- sprænghovedpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Dutch springkop
- springkoppart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Estonian lõhkepea
- lõhkepeapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Finnish taistelukärki
- taistelukärkipart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
French ogive
- ogivepart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
German Sprengkopf, Gefechtskopf
- Sprengkopfpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
- Gefechtskopfpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Greek εκρητική κεφαλή
- εκρητική κεφαλή (ekritikí kefalí)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Hebrew רֹאשׁ קְרָב
- רֹאשׁ קְרָב (rosh krav)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Hindi ध्वंसशीर्ष
- ध्वंसशीर्ष (dhvansśīrṣ)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Hungarian robbanófej
- robbanófejpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Indonesian hulu ledak
- hulu ledakpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Italian testata
- testatapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Japanese 弾頭
- 弾頭 (dantō)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Korean 탄두
- 탄두 (tandu)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Latvian kaujas galviņa
- kaujas galviņapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Lithuanian kovinė galvutė
- kovinė galvutėpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Malay kepala peledak
- kepala peledakpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Norwegian Bokmål stridshode
- stridshodepart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Polish głowica bojowa
- głowica bojowapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Portuguese ogiva
- ogivapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Romanian focoasă, ogivă
- focoasăpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
- ogivăpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Russian боеголо́вка
- боеголо́вка (bojegolóvka)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Slovak bojová hlavica
- bojová hlavicapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Spanish ojiva
- ojivapart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Swedish stridsspets
- stridsspetspart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Turkish savaş başlığı
- savaş başlığıpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Ukrainian боєголо́вка
- боєголо́вка (bojeholóvka)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Urdu راسُ ٱلْحَرْب
- راسُ ٱلْحَرْب (rāsu lharb)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Vietnamese đầu đạn
- đầu đạnpart of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Yiddish אויפֿרײַסשפּיץ
- אויפֿרײַסשפּיץ (oyfraysshpits)part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition
Cite this entry
warhead. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warhead
“warhead.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warhead. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “warhead,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warhead.
Source: warhead on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.