Word.ws English Dictionary

ballista

/bəˈlɪstə/

ballista noun: an ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

ballista: an ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

ballista (plural ballistas or ballistae or ballistæ)

  1. (historical) An ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.

ballista meaning in Arabic and Persian

ballista in Arabic

crossbow-like military engine for hurling large missiles
عَرَّادَة ʕarrāda

ballista in Persian

crossbow-like military engine for hurling large missiles
خرکمان xarkamân, عراده 'arrâde

Forms of ballista

pluralballistas
pluralballistae
pluralballistæ

Origin of ballista

Borrowed from Latin ballista, from Ancient Greek βαλλίστρα (ballístra), from βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).

Words formed from ballista

Words that rhyme with ballista

Questions about ballista

What does ballista mean?
Ballista means an ancient military engine, in the form of a crossbow, used for hurling large missiles.
What is ballista in Arabic?
Ballista in Arabic is عَرَّادَة (ʕarrāda). See Ballista meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is ballista?
Ballista is a noun.
How do you pronounce ballista?
Ballista is pronounced /bəˈlɪstə/.
What is the plural of ballista?
The plural of ballista is ballistas.

Words near ballista in the dictionary

  1. Ballis
  2. ballism
  3. ballismus
  4. Ballisodare
  5. ballist
  6. ballista
  7. ballistae
  8. ballistarii
  9. ballistarius
  10. ballistas
  11. ballister

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ballista (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ballista.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ballista. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.