: 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
Examples of barrage in a Sentence
Noun (2)
the teacher's rapid-fire barrage of homework assignments went by too fast for me to write them all down
Verb
the star athlete was barraged with requests for an autograph
Recent Examples on the Web
Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2026
Golden State got a classic second-half barrage from Curry, who returned only five games ago from a 27-game absence with a knee injury.
—Janis Carr, Oc Register, 16 Apr. 2026
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
Checchi, in particular, barraged voters with an unrelenting flood of ads.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barrage
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Noun
Curry scored a game-high 35 points, and Al Horford scored 14 for the Warriors, including a barrage of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 16 Apr. 2026
Golden State got a classic second-half barrage from Curry, who returned only five games ago from a 27-game absence with a knee injury.
—Janis Carr, Oc Register, 16 Apr. 2026
Verb
Each character has totally justified and totally unjustified reasons for resenting one another, and the sensation of absorbing those contrasting opinions is like being in a stuck bumper car, barraged and battered from all sides.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
Checchi, in particular, barraged voters with an unrelenting flood of ads.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for barrage
Cite this Entry
“Barrage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrage. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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