catapeltic
Syllables: ca·ta·pelt·ic/ˌkætəˈpɛltɪk/
catapeltic adjective: pertaining to a catapult or catapults.
Adjective
catapeltic (not comparable)
- Pertaining to a catapult or catapults.
- [T]he superior discipline and skill of the Romans were fully compensated by the strength of position and the catapeltic engines of the Macedonians.1835, William Martin Leake, “Illyria, Epirus”, in Travels in Northern Greece. […], volume I, London: J. Rodwell, […], →OCLC, page 386
- [Dionysius, governor of the Cassandrian garrison of Munychia] held out valiantly for two days; but at length the superior forces of the enemy, and the mischief done by their catapeltic engines, drove the defenders from the walls, when Demetrius [of Phalerum] entered the fortress, Dionysius was...1841, William Martin Leake, “Section IX. Of Maritime Athens, and Its Divisions, Peiræeus, Munychia, and Phalerum.—Their Harbours, Monuments, and Fortifications.”, in The Topography of Athens. With...
- Synonyms:
- catapultic
Noun
catapeltic (plural catapeltics)
- A catapult.
- That artillery which afterward so much promoted the victories of the Roman armies, machinery for shooting darts and stones of size far beyond the strength of man's arm to throw, (Diodorus [Siculus] calls it the catapeltic) was now either invented, or first perfected, so as to be valuable for...1808, William Mitford, “Affairs of the Sicilian and Italian Greek Cities, from the Establishment of the Syracusan Empire to the Death of Dionysius”, in The History of Greece, volume IV, London: […]...
Synonyms of catapeltic
Forms of catapeltic
| plural | catapeltics |
|---|
Origin of catapeltic
PIE word *ḱóm The adjective is a learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κᾰτᾰπελτῐκός (kătăpeltĭkós, “of or for a catapult”) + English -ic (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Κᾰτᾰπελτῐκός (Kătăpeltĭkós) is derived from κᾰτᾰπέλτης (kătăpéltēs) + -ῐκός (-ĭkós, suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives from nouns); while κᾰτᾰπέλτης (kătăpéltēs) is a literary form of κᾰτᾰπᾰ́λτης (kătăpắltēs, “catapult; torture instrument”), from κᾰτᾰ- (kătă-, prefix meaning ‘against’) + πάλλω (pállō, “to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown; to brandish a weapon; (passive) to swing or dash oneself”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to beat; to drive; to push”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming masculine agent nouns). The noun is derived from the adjective.
Words that rhyme with catapeltic
Questions about catapeltic
- What does catapeltic mean?
- Catapeltic means pertaining to a catapult or catapults.
- What part of speech is catapeltic?
- Catapeltic can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce catapeltic?
- Catapeltic is pronounced /ˌkætəˈpɛltɪk/ (UK).
Words near catapeltic in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: catapeltic (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-catapeltic.wav.
Cite this entry: “catapeltic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catapeltic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.