ballistic

adjective

bal·​lis·​tic bə-ˈli-stik 

1

: extremely and usually suddenly excited, upset, or angry : wild

He went ballistic when he saw the dent in his car.

and the crowd goes ballistic

2

: of or relating to the science of the motion of projectiles in flight

3

exercise : being or characterized by repeated bouncing

ballistic stretching

4

physics, of an object in motion : behaving like a projectile

But the Bell Labs switch uses such a low current that the few ballistic electrons are a distance of a micrometer or more apart …

—Robert Pool

5

of a material : capable of resisting or stopping bullets or other projectiles

ballistic glass

ballistic nylon

… engineered specifically to be worn under ballistic vests and shirts.

—K. M. Reese

ballistically

bə-ˈli-sti-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• angered
• angry
• apoplectic
• cheesed off [chiefly British]
• choleric
• enraged
• foaming
• fuming
• furious
• hopping
• horn-mad
• hot
• incensed
• indignant
• inflamed
• enflamed
• infuriate
• infuriated
• irate
• ireful
• livid
• mad
• outraged
• rabid
• rankled
• riled
• riley
• roiled
• shirty [chiefly British]
• sore
• steamed up
• steaming
• teed off
• ticked
• wrathful
• wroth

Examples of ballistic in a Sentence

she went ballistic when she discovered her brother reading her e-mail

Recent Examples on the Web

Russian drones were also reported to have entered Latvian and Romanian airspace in September, while Poland was forced to scramble fighter jets last week when Russia conducted ballistic and cruise missile strikes on western Ukraine. —Tim Ryan, Newsweek, 17 Dec. 2024

Streets in the capital Kyiv remained largely empty Friday morning as Ukraine’s air force warned of the threat of ballistic and cruise missiles potentially targeting parts of the country. —Daria Tarasova Markina, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024

During the briefing, detectives could be seen canvassing the area between the two schools gathering any ballistic evidence and surveillance footage. —Alexa Ashwell, Baltimore Sun, 13 Nov. 2024

McCormick said the city's Crime Gun Intelligence Center is using ballistic analysis to better analyze firearm evidence and link it to other crimes. —Cameron Knight, The Enquirer, 30 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin ballisticus "relating to the motion of projectiles in flight," from Latin ballista ballista + New Latin -icus -ic entry 1

Note: The Latin word was apparently introduced by the French priest and polymath Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) in Ballistica et acontismologia, a section (with separate title page) of his Cogitata physico-mathematica (Paris, 1644).

First Known Use

1764, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing ballistic

• ballistic missile
• go ballistic

Kids Definition

ballistic

adjective

bal·​lis·​tic bə-ˈlis-tik 

: of or relating to ballistics