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Glite Dictionary
💣 Short cannon 🧱 Building mixture 🥣 Grinding bowl 🧱 To join with mixture
mortar

mortar

82 7.5
A short gun that fires explosive shells at a high angle
  • noun
  • /ˈmɔrtər/
: mortero
  • The soldiers fired the mortar to target the enemy positioned on the hill.
  • mortar fire
  • mortar shells
  • mortar rounds

So we had ammunition and artillery rounds and mortar rounds for days.

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Examples

  • "Outside, the shelling starts again, the hills raining mortars on the entrenched city."

    Fiction book (1996)

  • You were wounded by shrapnel after a mortar hit your reconnaissance unit outside Algiers.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • People react to the sounds of the mortar attack on the town.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The mortar shells are deafening.

    Pearl (2022)

  • Then the mortar shells hit, and he's stuck there till we dig him out.

    Uncommon Valor (1983)

  • The dull boom of a mortar provided its own full stop for my little sermon.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The war occasionally paid us a visit in the form of incoming mortars, rockets, and sniper fire.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Exploding mortar shells caused razor sharp stone splinters to fly, devastating to eyes and faces.

  • The base was under attack and the sound of the mortar was echoing through the valley.

  • During the demonstration, the military showcased how to properly load a mortar for accurate firing.

Synonyms

trench mortar
vsmortar
  • Archaic
1 8.7

A short gun that fires shells high into the air over short distances in trench fighting

is the general short high-angle weapon not limited to trench use

Compounds

bricks and mortar
12 3.1

A building material made of bricks joined with mortar

mortar fire
11 7.9

Soldiers fire explosive shells in a high arc at a target from the ground

bricks and mortar
11 3.4

Physical shops where a business sells goods, not online

trench mortar
  • Archaic
1 8.7

A short gun that fires shells high into the air over short distances in trench fighting

How Far

trebuchet
3 9.9
catapult
29 6.6
lobber
1 9.1
mortar
82 7.5
slingshot
20 3.3

Surface Forms

mortar singular
mortars plural

Etymology

Mortar (weapon) takes its name from the Latin mortarium 'bowl for pounding' because the short gun looks a bit like a bowl that throws shells high into the air. So a mortar is a weapon that fires explosive shells at steep angles.