Word.ws English Dictionary

goes ballistic

goes ballistic is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go ballistic.

Meaning of go ballistic

Verb

go ballistic (third-person singular simple present goes ballistic, present participle going ballistic, simple past went ballistic, past participle gone ballistic)

  1. (idiomatic) To become very angry and irrational.
    • She'd go ballistic, possibly even fling a fireball or two, if she knew Selene had him in her apartment.1964, Elle James and Pamela Kent, Enemy Lover
  2. for a usually rocket-powered, predominantly non-glide projectile or aerial vehicle, such as a ballistic missile, to travel to its target partly via unpowered ballistic or quasi-ballistic flight, usually following burnout of its rocket motor
    • SRAM is a very flexible weapon. It has a ballistic trajectory. It can be launched and go ballistic into its target for a long range... and it can go short range at very low levels.1978, United States Senate, Part 8 of Fiscal year 1978 authorization for military procurement, research and development, and active duty, selected reserve, and civilian personnel strengths: hearings...
  3. (slang) for a powered, usually guided missile or other aerial vehicle to travel on an unguided or ballistic trajectory, having lost power, control or guidance
    • I... fired two AIM-7s in a ripple. One AIM-7 went ballistic. The other guided but passed behind the MIG and did not detonate. Knowing that I was then too close for further AIM-7 firing...1976, Robert Frank Futrell, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia-- aces and aerial victories, 1965-1973

Questions about goes ballistic

What is goes ballistic the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Goes ballistic is the third-person singular simple present indicative of go ballistic.

Words near goes ballistic in the dictionary

  1. goes back to
  2. goes back to the drawing board
  3. goes back to the tools
  4. goes backwards
  5. goes bad
  6. goes ballistic
  7. goes balls up
  8. goes bananas
  9. goes bankrupt
  10. goes batshit
  11. goes begging

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: goes ballistic (page history and authors); go ballistic (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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