rocket
UK/ˈɹɒk.ɪt//ˈɹɑk.ɪt/
rocket noun: a cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light and colour; a skyrocket.
Noun (1)
rocket (plural rockets)
- A cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light and colour; a skyrocket.
- A blunt lance head used in jousting.
- A long vehicle or craft propelled by a rocket engine; a missile or rocket-propelled spacecraft.
- As Elon Musk returns his focus to his businesses, one of his most important companies just had another setback: A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded in an immense fireball Wednesday during a routine ground test.2025 June 19, Hadas Gold, Jackie Wattles, “Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets keep blowing up at the worst possible time”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2025
- Asked by Gallup in 1949 whether “men in rockets will be able to reach the moon” within the next 50 years, just 15% said yes. About five years later, confidence in the men in rockets’ prospects had more than doubled to 38%. […] In a Gallup poll conducted near the start of 1955, just 9% said they’d...2026 April 9, Ariel Edwards-Levy, “Would you go to the moon? Board an alien spacecraft? What nearly 80 years of polls say about US attitudes on space”, in CNN, archived from the original on 11 Apr...
- An engine operating similarly to the pyrotechnic, generating thrust by the expulsion of hot gases; a rocket engine.
- Something that travels high in the air or with great speed; especially (sport), a hard shot.
- Fernandinho launched a rocket that flew just over. Gundogan's shot hit off Sviatchenko and Gordon and went out. City pressed and pressed.2016 September 28, Tom English, “Celtic 3–3 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport, BBC Sport, archived from the original on 10 Oct 2016
- A severe reprimand; a telling-off.
- The Burmese nurse who'd gone with her was crying, for which she'd no doubt get a rocket from matron.1973, Elizabeth Mavor, A Green Equinox, Virago, published 2023, page 93
- While Solborg and Lemaigre were dreaming of revolts, Donovan had learned of Solborg’s insubordination and meddling. He sent him a “rocket” ordering him out of North Africa and back to Lisbon at once.1980, David Schoenbrun, Soldiers of the Night: The Story of the French Resistance, Dutton, →ISBN, page 203
- An ace (the playing card).
- A stupid or crazy person.
- Why were the Luddites named efter Ned Ludd? A wee rocket. A wee fucken fairy bampot. A pure hooligan, smashing stuff up. A ned. Ned Ludd.2014, Alistair Beaton, Rob Drummond, Morna Pearson, Contemporary Scottish Plays
- A very physically attractive woman.
Verb
rocket (third-person singular simple present rockets, present participle rocketing, simple past and past participle rocketed)
- To accelerate swiftly and powerfully.
- With Free Guy, Reynolds gets just a little more in touch with his Carrey side via nothing less than his own version of The Truman Show, shorn of its daydream dread and rocketed into the age of Fortnite.2021 August 6, A. A. Dowd, “The Ryan Reynolds action-comedy Free Guy is a Truman Show for the Fortnite age”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2022
- To fly vertically.
- To rise or soar rapidly.
- The project was attractive because of the ability to maximise the use of existing and decommissioned railways, minimise land take, and decrease the amount of disruption during the project. With London land prices rocketing, there was also a significant financial incentive.2020 May 20, Paul Bigland, “East London Line's renaissance”, in Rail, pages 48–49
- The cost of food in the UK had rocketed by 25% since 2019, the researchers calculated, but if the post-Brexit trade restrictions were not in place then this increase would be only 17% – nearly a third lower.2023 May 24, Phillip Inman, “Brexit food trade barriers have cost UK households £7bn, report finds”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Sep 2023
- Synonyms:
- skyrocket
- To experience sudden fame, popularity, or success.
- After spending years in obscurity, the band finally rocketed last week.
- To carry something in a rocket.
- To attack something with rockets.
Noun (2)
rocket (countable and uncountable, plural rockets)
- A leaf vegetable of species Eruca sativa or Eruca vesicaria.
- Synonyms:
- arugula, rocket salad, eruca
- Any plant of the genus Eruca.
- And avoid certain aphrodisiac foods, such as onions and rockets.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 16
- Rocket larkspur (Consolida regalis, syn. Delphinium consolida).
rocket meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
rocket in Hindi
- rocket engine
- राकेट rākeṭ
- military: non-guided missile
- प्रक्षेपास्त्र prakṣepāstra
- vehicle
- प्रक्षेपण यान prakṣepaṇ yān
rocket in Tamil
- ஏவூர்தி, வானவெடி
rocket in Marathi
- rocket engine
- रॉकेट rŏkeṭ
- military: non-guided missile
- रॉकेट rŏkeṭ
- vehicle
- रॉकेट rŏkeṭ
rocket in Urdu
- rocket engine
- راکِٹ rākiṭ
More languagesFewer languages
- rocket in Bengali
- রকেট rokeṭ, মাহতাব mahotab
- rocket in Telugu
- ఆగ్నేయాస్త్రము āgnēyāstramu
- rocket in Malayalam
- റോക്കറ്റ് ṟōkkaṟṟŭ
- rocket in Kannada
- ಏರುಗಣೆ, ಬಿರುಸು
- rocket in Punjabi
- ਰਾਕੇਟ, ਰਾਕਟ, ਰੌਕੇਟ
- rocket in Gujarati
- રોકેટ
- rocket in Odia
- ରକେଟ, ରକେଟ୍
- rocket in Sanskrit
- क्षेपणी kṣepaṇī
- rocket in Sinhala
- රොකට් rokaṭ
- rocket in Nepali
- रकेट
- rocket in Pashto
- راکټ rākeṭ
- rocket in Tagalog
- kuwitis, sikpad
- rocket in Arabic
- صَارُوخ ṣārūḵ, قَذِيفَة qaḏīfa
- rocket in Malay
- roket, cerawat
- rocket in Indonesian
- roket
- rocket in Thai
- จรวด jà-rùuat
- rocket in Vietnamese
- động cơ tên lửa, tên lửa, rốc két
- rocket in Myanmar
- ဒုံးပျံ dum:pyam, ဒုံး dum:
Examples of rocket in a sentence
- The jet fired a salvo of rockets at the truck convoy.
- A large tank of hydrogen constituted most of the bulk of that rocket.
- A high thrust-to-weight ratio helps a rocket to overcome the effects of gravity drag.
Synonyms of rocket
Forms of rocket
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | rockets |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | rockets |
| present participle | rocketing |
| past participle | rocketed |
| past | rocketed |
Origin of rocket
From Italian rocchetta, from Old Italian rocchetto (“rocket”, literally “a bobbin”), diminutive of rocca (“a distaff”), from Lombardic rocko (“spinning wheel”), from Proto-West Germanic *rokkō, from Proto-Germanic *rukkô (“a distaff, a staff with flax fibres tied loosely to it, used in spinning thread”). Cognate with Old High German rocco, rocko, roccho, rocho ("a distaff"; > German Rocken (“a distaff”)), Swedish rock (“a distaff”), Icelandic rokkur (“a distaff”), Middle English rocke (“a distaff”). More at rock⁴. For the meaning development, compare fuselage, ultimately from Latin fūsus (“spindle, spinning wheel”).
Borrowed from French roquette, from Italian ruchetta, diminutive of ruca, from Latin eruca. Cognate to arugula, rucola, eruca, roquette.
Words formed from rocket
- antimatter rocket
- antirocket
- booster rocket
- bottle rocket
- chemical rocket
- Congreve rocket
- corn rocket
- crotch rocket
- fission rocket
- fusion rocket
- ghost rocket
- hash rocket
- hybrid rocket
- life rocket
- liquid rocket
- moon rocket
- multiple rocket launcher
- nuclear-electric rocket
- nuclear-pulse rocket
- nuclear rocket
- nuclear-thermal rocket
- nuclear-thermoelectric rocket
- off one's rocket
- pion rocket
- pocket rocket
- polish one's rocket
- red rocket
- retrorocket
- rice rocket
- rockaire
- rockair
- rocket aircraft
- rocket artillery
- rocket belt
- rocket booster
- rocketborne
- rocket car
- rocket docket
- rocketeer
- rocket equation
- rocketer
- rocket festival
- rocket garden
- rocket jellyfish
- rocket jump
- rocket launcher
- rocketless
- rocketlike
- rocketman
- rocket motor
- rocket-pack
- rocket pack
- rocket plane
- rocket-plane
- rocketplane
- rocket pod
- rocket propellant 1
- rocket propelled grenade
- rocket-propelled grenade
- rocketpunk
Phrases with rocket
- rocket up
- sea rocket
- rocket cars
- rocket pods
- rocket ship
- rocket sled
- snot rocket
- step rocket
- wall rocket
- retro rocket
- rocket belts
- rocket jumps
44 more phrasesFewer phrases
- rocket packs
- rocket salad
- rocket ships
- rocket sleds
- rocket stage
- solid rocket
- space rocket
- stomp rocket
- water rocket
- dame's rocket
- dyer's rocket
- London rocket
- rocket engine
- rocket jumped
- rocket motors
- rocket planes
- rocket salads
- rocket stages
- yellow rocket
- rocket dockets
- rocket engines
- rocket gardens
- rocket jumping
- Rocket Leaguer
- rocket science
- rocket surgeon
- rocket surgery
- thermal rocket
- rocket larkspur
- Rocket Leaguers
- rocket surgeons
- sounding rocket
- rocket festivals
- rocket larkspurs
- rocket launchers
- rocket scientist
- rocket scientists
- anti-matter rocket
- rocket artilleries
- polished one's rocket
- polishes one's rocket
- polishing one's rocket
- multiple rocket launchers
- rocket propelled grenades
Words that rhyme with rocket
Questions about rocket
- What does rocket mean?
- Rocket means a cylindrical projectile that can be fired to a great height through combustion, (specifically) a type of firework of this form, typically exploding with light and colour; a skyrocket.
- What is rocket in Hindi?
- Rocket in Hindi is राकेट (rākeṭ), प्रक्षेपास्त्र (prakṣepāstra), प्रक्षेपण यान (prakṣepaṇ yān). See Rocket meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is rocket?
- Rocket can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce rocket?
- Rocket is pronounced /ˈɹɒk.ɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of rocket?
- The plural of rocket is rockets.
Words near rocket in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: rocket (page history and authors); rocket (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఆగ్నేయాస్త్రము (Telugu) (page history and authors); റോക്കറ്റ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); rocket (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rocket (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rocket (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rocket (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); rocket (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-rocket.ogg.
Cite this entry: “rocket.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rocket. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.