How do you pronounce ballistic?

The recorded pronunciation is /bəˈlɪs.tɪk/.

ballistic

/bəˈlɪs.tɪk/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.48 in modern English

Syllables: bal-lis-tic
IPA: /bəˈlɪs.tɪk/

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Of or relating to ballistics.

adj

Of or relating to projectiles moving under their own momentum, aerodynamic drag, gravity, and sometimes rocket power, without significant lift.

adj

Very angry.

Slang

Example Sentences

"Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for a third time in Ukraine as part of a massive attack on Kyiv and its surrounding region that killed at least four people and injured about 100."
"When he heard him lie about it, he went ballistic."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-der. Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō Ancient Greek βᾰ́λλω (bắllō) Ancient Greek βαλλίστρᾱ (ballístrā)der. Latin ballista Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icuslbor. Old French -iquebor. Middle English -ik English -ic English ballistic From Latin ballista (“a military siege engine for throwing stones”) + -ic.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: ballista
Suffix: ic

Usage

Slang

Inflected Forms

more ballistic (comparative) most ballistic (superlative)

Derived Forms

aeroballistic antiballistic astroballistic ballistical ballistically ballistician ballisticity ballistics ballochory bioballistic cardioballistic electroballistic

Phrases

ballistic coefficient ballistic gelatin ballistic knife ballistic missile ballistic parachute ballistic pendulum ballistic podiatry ballistic syllable

Synonyms

ballistical

Antonyms

antiballistic guided projectile

Rhymes With

artistic realistic characteristic optimistic linguistic mystic unrealistic statistic autistic futuristic holistic simplistic