ballistic Hear it!

ballistic Definition

bal·lis·tic (bə lis′tik)

adjective

  1. of or connected with ballistics
  2. of the motion and force of projectiles

Etymology: < ballista

ballistic Idioms

go ballistic

☆ Informal

to become so angry as to lose emotional control

ballistic Usage Examples

Modifying Another Word

  • absolutely: This fish went absolutely ballistic putting to shame any coarse fish of a similar size.
  • completely: She would go completely ballistic if she saw that we let anyone even touch the Walker.
  • not: These are not ballistic moves, they are dynamic in nature.

Modifies a noun

  • missile: Several of them include medium range ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of more than 1,000 nautical miles.
  • nylon: The material is 1680 Denier ballistic nylon, which I am led to believe has twice the strength of normal nylon.
  • submarine: The Royal Navy possess a single class of four ballistic missile submarines, the Vanguard class.
  • proliferation: We support ongoing efforts to achieve a code of conduct against ballistic missile proliferation on the basis of these ideas.
  • defense: Take, for example, our approach to ballistic missile defense.
  • trajectory: Namely, there was no effective software check of observed radar track for ballistic trajectory.

Used with adjective complement

go: Off course I went ballistic, using all sorts of Anglo - Saxon words not taught in Sunday School in my day.