Ballista Definition

bə-lĭstə
ballistae
noun
ballistae
An ancient and medieval engine of warfare, usually having a design similar to a crossbow, used to hurl heavy projectiles.
American Heritage
A device, resembling a large mounted crossbow, used in ancient warfare to hurl heavy stones and similar missiles.
Webster's New World

An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Ballista

Noun

Singular:
ballista
Plural:
ballist, ballistae

Origin of Ballista

  • Latin from Greek ballistēs from ballein to throw gwelə- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Latin ballista, from Ancient Greek βαλλίστρα (ballistra), from βάλλω (ballō, “I throw”).

    From Wiktionary

Ballista Sentence Examples

  • They had large war machine like catapults called ballista that fired arrows and a sort of giant catapult that fired massive pieces of rock.

  • The bolt would probably have been fired by artillery such as a ballista, which was a type of large crossbow.

  • The Romans adopted these weapons during the Punic Wars and further developed them, before introducing the new arrow-firing ballista and stone-throwing onager.

  • The Medieval Catapults used during the Middle Ages were the Mangonel, the ballista and the mighty trebuchet.

  • A great feature is that new combos and actions are displayed during the action of the game at the appropriate time (such as how to use a ballista).

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to ballista using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

BBABAL

Words Ending With

ATASTA

Unscrambles

ballista

Words Starting With B and Ending With A

Starts With B & Ends With AStarts With BA & Ends With AStarts With B & Ends With TA

Word Length

8 Letter Words8 Letter Words Starting With B8 Letter Words Ending With A