Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1600-1700
Language: Latin
Origin: missilis 'able to be thrown', from mittere; MISSION

missile

 noun
     
Related topics: Weapons
mis‧sile [countable]
1PMW a weapon that can fly over long distances and that explodes when it hits the thing it has been aimed at:
a missile attack
2 an object that is thrown at someone in order to hurt them:
Demonstrators threw missiles at the police.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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