artillery

noun

ar·​til·​lery är-ˈti-lə-rē 

-ˈtil-rē

plural artilleries

1

: weapons (such as bows, slings, and catapults) for discharging missiles

2

a

: large bore mounted firearms (such as guns, howitzers, and rockets) : ordnance

especially : such ordnance that is capable of long-range indirect fire at a target too distant to be seen

b

: a branch of an army armed with artillery

3

: a means of impressing, arguing, persuading, or competing

… indicated that the Bureau had not rolled out its heavy artillery for a full-scale investigation.

—Herbert Mitgang

Synonyms

• guns
• weapons

Examples of artillery in a Sentence

The troops were being bombarded by artillery.

a captain in the artillery

Recent Examples on the Web

Amazingly, Ari Aster’s satirical neo-noir Western Eddington was wrapped months before the new Republican administration came to power, wielding alternative facts as its main artillery in the fight for the soul of the American people. —Damon Wise, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2025

PrSM offers artillery units a new long-range capability supporting brigade, division, corps, Army, theater, Joint and Coalition forces. —Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2025

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kim has made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large shipments of weapons, including artillery and ballistic missiles, to help fuel Putin’s war. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 12 Oct. 2025

Reuters — Drone and artillery strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on a shelter in the Sudanese city of Al-Fashir killed at least 60 people on Friday night and Saturday morning, according to local activists. —CNN Money, 11 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English artilrie, artillerie "instruments of war, weapons for discharging missiles," borrowed from Anglo-French & continental Middle French artelrie, artillerie, from Old French artillier "to equip, provide with instruments of war" (alteration, probably after art "skill, craft, art entry 1" and its derivatives, of atiller, atillier "to order, adjust, put on pieces of armor") + -rie, -erie -ery; atiller, atillier going back to Vulgar Latin *apticulāre, from Latin aptāre "to put into position, bring to bear, make ready" + Vulgar Latin *-iculāre, as in *appariculāre "to prepare, equip, apparel entry 2" — more at adapt

Note: The expected outcome of *apticulāre would be *ateiller rather than atiller, which would appear to derive from *aptīculāre; the discrepancy has been explained as a result of interference from the semantically similar verb atirier, atirer "to equip, prepare" (see attire entry 1).

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing artillery

• artillery pieces
• field artillery
• heavy artillery

Rhymes for artillery

• bacillary
• distillery
• intermaxillary
• pillory
• premaxillary
• submaxillary

Kids Definition

artillery

noun

ar·​til·​lery är-ˈtil-(ə-)rē 

plural artilleries

1

: large firearms (as cannon or rockets)

2

: a branch of an army armed with artillery

artilleryman

-mən

noun