torpedo
Syllables: tor·pe·doUK/ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/US/ˌtoɹˈpi.doʊ/
torpedo noun: an electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
Noun
torpedo (plural torpedoes or torpedos)
- An electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
- Faire Queene, forbeare to angle for the fiſh, / Which being caught, ſtrikes him that takes it dead, / I meane that vile Torpedo, Gaueſton, / That now I hope flotes on the Iriſh Seas1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act...
- The man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he is born, and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo's touch […].1790, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men
- A cylindrical explosive projectile that can travel quickly underwater and is used as a weapon.
- I stood rigid, spellbound, watching the white wake of the torpedo. It struck us on the starboard side almost amidships. The vessel rocked as though the sea beneath it had been uptorn by a mighty volcano.1918, Edgar Rice Burrows, The Land that Time Forgot, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008
- Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall...2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse..., archived from the original on 04 Dec 2022
- A similar projectile that can travel through space.
- A naval mine.
- An explosive device buried underground, to destroy fortifications, troops, or cavalry.
- Synonyms:
- land torpedo, land mine
- Synonym of submarine sandwich.
- Synonyms:
- submarine sandwich
- A professional gunman or assassin.
- A small explosive device attached to the top of the rail to provide an audible warning when a train passes over it.
- Synonyms:
- detonator
- A kind of firework in the form of a small ball, or pellet, which explodes when thrown upon a hard object.
- An automobile with a streamlined profile and a folding or detachable soft top, and having the hood or bonnet line raised to be level with the car's waistline, resulting in a straight beltline from front to back.
- A focal ovoid swelling on the axons of Purkinje cells, observed in several diseases such as essential tremor and spinocerebellar ataxia.
- In several human neurodegenerative diseases, focal axonal swellings on Purkinje cells – known as torpedoes – have been associated with Purkinje cell loss. Interestingly, torpedoes are also reported to appear transiently during development in rat cerebellum.2016 November 2, Lovisa Ljungberg, Daneck Lang-Ouellette, Angela Yang, Sriram Jayabal, Sabrina Quilez, Alanna J. Watt, “Transient Developmental Purkinje Cell Axonal Torpedoes in Healthy and Ataxic...
- A woman's shoe with a pointed toe.
- A large breast; a breast with a large nipple.
- A thick marijuana cigarette.
- A cigarette containing marijuana and crack cocaine.
Verb
torpedo (third-person singular simple present torpedoes or torpedos, present participle torpedoing, simple past and past participle torpedoed)
- To strike (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
- To sink (a ship) with one or more torpedoes.
- The anti-German riots which erupted simultaneously in many countries in response to the torpedoing of the Lusitania by a German U-boat in 1915 reflected shifts in the status of minorities in multi-ethnic societies at a time of escalating nationalist emotions.2013 November, Tilman Dedering, “‘Avenge the Lusitania’: The Anti-German Riots in South Africa in 1915”, in Immigrants & Minorities, volume 31, number 3, →DOI, pages 256–288
- To undermine or destroy any endeavor with a powerful attack.
- The left-back had been a selection concern because of an injury niggle but his first goal since last March swung this derby decisively in United’s favour, extending their club record unbeaten run away from home in the Premier League to 22 games and torpedoing City’s sequence of 21 straight wins in...2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in The Guardian
- The Toronto-based company[…] promised a certain fantasy, particularly aimed at men: a list of women ready and willing to have an affair; a secret good time outside the bounds of one’s partnership; self-proclaimed extensive security measures to prevent torpedoing one’s domestic life.2024 May 14, Adrian Horton, “Inside the rise and fall of Ashley Madison: ‘People literally lost their lives’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
torpedo meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
torpedo in Hindi
- underwater weapon
- टॉरपीडो ṭŏrpīḍo, टारपीडो ṭārpīḍo
torpedo in Tamil
- படைத்துறை
torpedo in Marathi
- underwater weapon
- टॉरपीडो ṭŏrpīḍo
torpedo in Urdu
- ٹارپیڈو, ٹورپیڈو, टारپیڈو
More languagesFewer languages
- torpedo in Bengali
- টর্পেডো ṭorpeḍō
- torpedo in Telugu
- టార్పెడో, టార్పిడో, టార్పెడొ
- torpedo in Malayalam
- വൈദ്യുതരശ്മി, ടോർപിഡോ
- torpedo in Kannada
- ನೌಕಾ ಸ್ಫೋಟಕ, ಹಡಗು ಸಿಡಿತ
- torpedo in Punjabi
- ਟਾਰਪੀਡੋ, ਟੋਰਪੀਡੋ, ਟਾਰਪੀਡੋ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- torpedo in Gujarati
- નૌકાનાશક naukānāśak
- torpedo in Odia
- ଟର୍ପେଡୋ, ଟର୍ପିଡୋ, ଟାରପିଡୋ
- torpedo in Nepali
- टारपिडो, टोरपिडो, टारपीडो
- torpedo in Arabic
- طُرْبِيد ṭurbīd
- torpedo in Malay
- torpedo
- torpedo in Indonesian
- torpedo
- torpedo in Thai
- ตอร์ปิโด dtɔɔ-bpì-doo, ทิ้งระเบิดตอร์ปิโด tíng-rá-bə̀ət-dtɔɔ-bpì-doo
- torpedo in Vietnamese
- ngư lôi
Examples of torpedo in a sentence
- "A childhood Misadventure with a Torpedo," Dixon, with a brief move of his head toward Mason, confides, "— thus his Sensitivity at all References to the,"— whispering,— "electrickal!"1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 286:
- Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov.2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any...
- They would sail once more into the breach and damn the torpedos!2020, Ted Bell, Dragonfire, New York, N.Y.: Berkley, published 2021, →ISBN, page 536:
- The decision (5-4) by the nine-member bench has torpedoed Srettha’s troubled government, which has failed to gain support in parliament and among the Thai public.2024 August 14, Aidan Jones, “Thai PM Srettha Thavisin dismissed from office by court”, in scmp.com:
Synonyms of torpedo
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of torpedo
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | torpedoes |
| plural | torpedos |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | torpedoes |
| third-person singular present | torpedos |
| present participle | torpedoing |
| past participle | torpedoed |
| past | torpedoed |
Origin of torpedo
* Borrowed from Latin torpēdō (“a torpedo fish; numbness, torpidity, electric ray”), from torpeō (“to be stiff, numb, torpid; to be astounded; to be inactive”) + -ēdō (noun suffix), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). In the military sense coined by Robert Fulton in 1805. Cognate with Old English steorfan (“to die”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Lithuanian tirpstu (“to become rigid”), Old Church Slavonic трупети (trupeti). * (type of car): From 1908, after "the Torpedo", a car designed by Captain Theo Masui.
Words formed from torpedo
- common torpedo
- antitorpedo
- Bangalore torpedo
- land torpedo
- narcotorpedo
- neato torpedo
- spar torpedo
- strawpedo
- supertorpedo
- torp
- torpedinoid
- torpedo boat
- torpedo body
- torpedo bomber
- torpedo boom
- torpedo catcher
- torpedo cruiser
- torpedoist
- torpedo juice
- torpedolike
- torpedoman
- torpedo net
- torpedoproof
- torpedo punt
- torpedo ram
- torpedo roll
- torpedo skate
- torpedo stern
- torpedo tube
- Torpex
- untorpedoed
Phrases with torpedo
Words that rhyme with torpedo
Questions about torpedo
- What does torpedo mean?
- Torpedo means an electric ray of the genus Torpedo.
- What is torpedo in Hindi?
- Torpedo in Hindi is टॉरपीडो (ṭŏrpīḍo), टारपीडो (ṭārpīḍo). See Torpedo meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use torpedo in a sentence?
- "A childhood Misadventure with a Torpedo," Dixon, with a brief move of his head toward Mason, confides, "— thus his Sensitivity at all References to the,"— whispering,— "electrickal!"
- What part of speech is torpedo?
- Torpedo can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce torpedo?
- Torpedo is pronounced /ˌtɔː(ɹ)ˈpiː.dəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of torpedo?
- The plural of torpedo is torpedoes.
Words near torpedo in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: torpedo (page history and authors); torpedo (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); torpedo (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); torpedo (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); torpedo (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); torpedo (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); torpedo (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); torpedo (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); torpedo (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-au-torpedo.ogg.
Cite this entry: “torpedo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/torpedo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.