grenade

noun gre·nade \ grə-ˈnād \

|Updated on: 10 Jun 2018

Definition of grenade

: a small missile that contains an explosive or a chemical agent (such as tear gas, a flame producer, or a smoke producer) and that is thrown by hand or projected (as by a rifle or special launcher)

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Recent Examples of grenade from the Web

His supercilious deadpan comments, lobbed like lazy grenades, are a wicked delight.

— david rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, "'The Boys in the Band': Theater Review," 1 June 2018
Instead of being served as a small mound, frakeh resemble roughly formed hand-grenades, each containing dimpled impressions from the cook’s grip.

— mark kurlyandchik, Detroit Free Press, "Review: Dearborn's La2 Mooshi Grill melds Lebanese and Brazilian," 31 May 2018
At the end of last week’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale, Ofglen (Tattiawna Jones) ferociously stormed the crowd of Commanders and foreign dignitaries at the Rachel and Leah Center and threw a grenade.

— refinery29.com, "The Handmaid's Tale Season 2, Episode 7 Recap: There Is A Bomb In Gilead," 30 May 2018
The protesters used grenades, Molotov cocktails, slingshots, incendiary kites and burning tires.

— latimes.com, "Calendar Letters: Much ado about the royal wedding," 25 May 2018
And forget inert hand grenades or replicas that are meant to be amusing; the TSA does not find these funny.

— Fox News, "6 things to know the next time you go through airport security," 16 May 2018
Such devices, which work like a hand grenade, are simple to engineer.

— aaron gell, Longreads, "Did Brian Easley Have to Die?," 9 Apr. 2018
Police responded to All America Waste at 80 Garfield Ave. and, after finding what appeared to be a hand grenade, the state police bomb squad was called in to disarm the explosive and remove it from the area, police said.

— sandra gomez-aceves, courant.com, "Police: Hand Grenade Found In Stratford; Bomb Squad Called To Disarm Device," 11 Jan. 2018
Dietland, by contrast, is a grenade with the pin pulled out.

— sophie gilbert, The Atlantic, "Marti Noxon Wants to Put Angry Women on TV," 15 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grenade.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.