moon shot

noun

variants or moonshot

ˈmün-ˌshät 

plural moon shots or moonshots

1

a

: a spacecraft mission to the moon

And among the nearly endless tasks that had to be completed for the Apollo moon shot, one woman spearheaded a critical engineering project: testing all the small gear the astronauts would take with them to the lunar surface.

—Kathryn Tully

b

: an extremely ambitious project or mission undertaken to achieve a monumental goal

He is leading biology's moon shot; the Human Genome Project, a $3 billion, 15-year effort to pinpoint the location of all 100,000 human genes.

—Paul Hoffman

This month, a group of billionaires … announced a moonshot of their own—a $1 billion joint venture to develop clean energy technology and bring it to market.

—Alan Fleischmann

2

sports : a hit or thrown ball that travels a great distance with a high trajectory

… paused at the plate to admire the second of the three homers—a moon shot that landed a few rows short of a homemade sign in the rightfield bleachers …

—Tim Crothers

White's pass, like his 43-yard touchdown to Tony Hill in the fourth quarter, was a moon shot, a high arching thing that took an hour to come down.

—Paul Zimmerman

Examples of moon shot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The cancer moon shot includes university research projects and grants, with a long-term goal of improving the prevention and treatment of the disease. —Haisten Willis, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 July 2024

Rodriguez said that restoring sight in James’ left eye through a whole eye transplant was a moon shot from the get-go but that performing the surgery provided other benefits, as well. —Kaitlin Sullivan, NBC News, 9 Nov. 2023

Cedric Mullins hits game-winning home run With one out in the top of the 10th and the ghost runner on base, Mullins stepped up to the plate and launched a moon shot to right field, sending the ball 364 feet and over the wall to give Baltimore a 5-3 lead. —Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY, 13 Aug. 2023

The tally included a 493-foot moon shot on Friday, the longest home run of his career and in the majors this season. —Sarah Valenzuela, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined at sense 1a