ballistic

Language: en

🇺🇸 /bəˈlɪstɪk/

📖 Definitions

  1. adjective
    Relating to projectiles or their flight, motion, or behavior.; Relating to the science of ballistics, the study of the mechanics of projectiles.; Extremely angry or upset; wildly emotional (informal, often used in the phrase 'go ballistic').; Sudden and forceful in movement or action, resembling the flight of a projectile.

🔗 Details

Word forms

Collocations

go ballisticballistic missileballistic trajectoryballistic evidenceballistic fingerprinting

Derivatives

ballisticsballisticallyballista

Synonyms

projectilepropulsiverocket-powered

Commonly confused

ballistics
EN: 'Ballistics' is the noun referring to the science of projectiles; 'ballistic' is the adjective describing something related to that science.
balistic
EN: 'Balistic' is a common misspelling; the correct form has double 'l': 'ballistic'.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember 'ballistic' has double 'l' and ends in '-istic' (not '-istic' vs '-istic' confusion with words like 'realistic'). The informal phrase 'go ballistic' (meaning to become extremely angry) is often used in casual speech.

💬 Examples

  1. The missile followed a ballistic trajectory through the atmosphere.

  2. The forensic team conducted a ballistic analysis of the bullet fragments.

  3. My parents went ballistic when they found out I had crashed the car.

  4. The athlete made a ballistic leap over the hurdle.