: a dam placed in a watercourse to increase the depth of water or to divert it into a channel for navigation or irrigation
1
military
: artillery fire laid on a line (see line entry 1 sense 6c) close to friendly troops to screen and protect them
The enemy laid down a barrage of machine-gun fire as our platoon approached the bridge.
2
: a vigorous or rapid outpouring or projection of many things at once
a barrage of phone calls
unleashed a barrage of insults
an oratorical barrage
barraged; barraging
: to deliver a barrage (see barrage entry 2) against
were barraged with bullets
being barraged by campaign ads before the election
Synonyms
Examples of barrage in a Sentence
Verb
the star athlete was barraged with requests for an autograph
Recent Examples on the Web
USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2024
The Iranian assault did not cause major damage or injuries, because Israeli, U.S. and other forces intercepted most of the barrage.
—Jeff Stein, Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2024
Iran’s barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles enables its leadership to claim vengeance for Israel’s April 1 assassination of seven senior Revolutionary Guards commanders.
—Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024
On his orders, Russian warplanes launched a relentless barrage of missiles across Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, and a ground assault involving thousands of military vehicles soon began its march on Kyiv.
—Simon Shuster / Vilnius, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Noise has come to mean an engulfing barrage of data—less an event than a condition.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
When warnings about a possible Iranian attack reached fever pitch on Friday night, Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets at Israel’s Upper Galilee, producing slew of intercepts from Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome system.
—CNN, 13 Apr. 2024
Tornadoes, flooding cause widespread damage across Gulf Coast The system unleashed a barrage of severe weather conditions across the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, leading to mass power outages, travel disruptions, widespread damage and flooding in New Orleans.
—Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
When Mia starts to receive a barrage of degrading texts, as a protective mother,
Madelyn is determined to find out who is harassing her daughter and will do anything to help her, bringing them closer together again.
—Lawrence Yee, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2024
R. Scott Raynovich, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
Israel left the Gaza Strip almost two decades ago and, followed by a violent coup by Hamas, watched as the terrorist group diverted humanitarian aid to tunnels and offshore bank accounts, deprived its citizens, and barraged Israel with rockets.
—TIME, 20 Feb. 2024
In other videos, Russian forces can be seen being barraged by U.S.-supplied cluster munitions.
—Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 23 Oct. 2023
Instantly, Heffernan said, trolls descended, barraging her with anti-Semitic and misogynistic messages.
—Sarah Blaskey, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2024
Like in 2013, when the nonprofit punk fanzine Razorcake applied for a tiny Los Angeles-area FM station on the same signal as an EMF translator down in Orange County, and EMF barraged it with complaints about potential interference.
—Katie Thornton, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2024
One of the biggest DDoS defense firms in the world could no longer handle the scale of the data torrent barraging his site.
—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023
For about 20 seconds, McAbee, body weighed about 300 pounds, was on top of Wayte while rioters barraged the officer on all sides.
—Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2023
The disaster declaration from President Joe Biden on Tuesday stemmed from storms that barraged Cook County from June 29 to July 2 and will free up federal funding for the thousands who incurred damage, according to an announcement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
—Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2023
Noun
In the days leading up to Rittenhouse's appearance at The University of Memphis in March, the school fielded a barrage of complaints from students, faculty, and community members.
—USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2024
The Iranian assault did not cause major damage or injuries, because Israeli, U.S. and other forces intercepted most of the barrage.
—Jeff Stein, Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2024
Iran’s barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles enables its leadership to claim vengeance for Israel’s April 1 assassination of seven senior Revolutionary Guards commanders.
—Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2024
On his orders, Russian warplanes launched a relentless barrage of missiles across Ukraine on the morning of Feb. 24, 2022, and a ground assault involving thousands of military vehicles soon began its march on Kyiv.
—Simon Shuster / Vilnius, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
Noise has come to mean an engulfing barrage of data—less an event than a condition.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024
When warnings about a possible Iranian attack reached fever pitch on Friday night, Hezbollah launched a barrage of rockets at Israel’s Upper Galilee, producing slew of intercepts from Israel’s anti-missile Iron Dome system.
—CNN, 13 Apr. 2024
Tornadoes, flooding cause widespread damage across Gulf Coast The system unleashed a barrage of severe weather conditions across the Gulf Coast on Wednesday, leading to mass power outages, travel disruptions, widespread damage and flooding in New Orleans.
—Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024
When Mia starts to receive a barrage of degrading texts, as a protective mother,
Madelyn is determined to find out who is harassing her daughter and will do anything to help her, bringing them closer together again.
—Lawrence Yee, Peoplemag, 10 Apr. 2024
Verb
Cybersecurity pros are barraged by dozens, if not hundreds, of cybersecurity products added as acronyms.
—R. Scott Raynovich, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
Israel left the Gaza Strip almost two decades ago and, followed by a violent coup by Hamas, watched as the terrorist group diverted humanitarian aid to tunnels and offshore bank accounts, deprived its citizens, and barraged Israel with rockets.
—TIME, 20 Feb. 2024
In other videos, Russian forces can be seen being barraged by U.S.-supplied cluster munitions.
—Patrick Reevell, ABC News, 23 Oct. 2023
Instantly, Heffernan said, trolls descended, barraging her with anti-Semitic and misogynistic messages.
—Sarah Blaskey, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2024
Like in 2013, when the nonprofit punk fanzine Razorcake applied for a tiny Los Angeles-area FM station on the same signal as an EMF translator down in Orange County, and EMF barraged it with complaints about potential interference.
—Katie Thornton, Rolling Stone, 21 Jan. 2024
One of the biggest DDoS defense firms in the world could no longer handle the scale of the data torrent barraging his site.
—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023
For about 20 seconds, McAbee, body weighed about 300 pounds, was on top of Wayte while rioters barraged the officer on all sides.
—Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, 12 Oct. 2023
The disaster declaration from President Joe Biden on Tuesday stemmed from storms that barraged Cook County from June 29 to July 2 and will free up federal funding for the thousands who incurred damage, according to an announcement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
—Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune, 17 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barrage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near barrage
Cite this Entry
“Barrage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrage. Accessed 27 Apr. 2024.
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