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

Officer Matthew Haney was protected from serious injury by his ballistic vest. —Perry Vandell, The Arizona Republic, 8 Sep. 2024

There are other options, including a ballistic reentry, with a steeper trajectory that is harder on the crew in terms of gravitational forces, and a direct reentry, which involves a miniature skip. —Benj Edwards, Ars Technica, 4 Sep. 2024

Air defenses in Ukraine destroyed at least nine ballistic and 13 cruise missiles, the government group said. —Kevin Shalvey, ABC News, 1 Sep. 2024

Police said detectives collected ballistic evidence from the scene while investigators from the Major Crimes unit collected surveillance video in the area and spoke with several witnesses. —Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 8 Aug. 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