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Glite Dictionary
🚀 Underwater weapon 💣 To ruin 🚀 To attack with weapon 🥪 A large sandwich 🐟 Electric ray 🕶️ A hitman 💥 Small explosive
to torpedo

to torpedo

5 7.5
To attack a ship with an underwater weapon that moves by itself
  • verb
  • /tɔrˈpiːdoʊ/
translation icon : torpedear
  • The SS Jonas Lie was torpedoed and abandoned in the Mediterranean in January 1945.
  • a torpedoed ship
  • a submarine torpedoed
  • torpedoed and sunk

Examples

  • The ship you torpedoed contained nothing but innocent passengers...

    The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

  • You torpedo 'em, they ain't got a prayer.

    Return from the River Kwai (1989)

  • And we were talking about Trump and how he torpedoes himself in debates by talking over the person.

  • The ship was torpedoed and sank.

    Blog text (25)

  • Then Cody forced the captain of the sub to torpedo the tanker.

    Submerged (2005)

  • The Liberty was carrying four hundred American soldiers along with a cargo of ammunition when it was torpedoed by a German submarine.

    Academic text (2009)

  • In 1941, Mexico joined the Allied cause, and in 1942, declared war against Germany after a German submarine torpedoed two Mexican ships.

    Academic text (1993)

  • The SS John Treutlen was torpedoed in the English Channel during the Normandy Invasion in 1944.

    Academic text (2009)

  • My brother Merritt Terrell was on the USS Pensacola, which was torpedoed in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

    Blog text (11)

  • The military plans to torpedo any hostile vessel approaching their coastline.

Synonyms

to shell
vsto torpedo
27 7.9

To fire metal containers filled with explosives at a place or people to cause damage

uses underwater guided weapons rather than surface explosive projectiles
to dive-bomb
vsto torpedo
  • Specialized
2 7.5

To fly down quickly to attack, often seen when birds fly at people or when planes drop bombs

attacks using underwater guided weapons instead of aerial steep dive attacks
to fusillade
vsto torpedo
  • Literature
9.9

To fire a quick series of shots at someone or something

is an attack by underwater guided weapons focused on single heavy hits not rapid fire

Antonyms

to defend
∞ 1.3

To protect people and things from attack or harm

Idioms

to torpedo their chances
7.9

To ruin their chances of success

Compounds

torpedo tube
  • Specialized
4 7.0

A tube in a warship or submarine that fires a torpedo

torpedo boat
  • Specialized
1 6.3

A small fast military boat that fires underwater bombs near the coast

aerial torpedo
  • Specialized
1 9.1

A weapon released from a plane that moves under water to hit ships or submarines

bangalore torpedo
  • Specialized
9.6

A long metal tube filled with explosives used to make a safe path through barbed wire or mines

motor torpedo boat
  • Archaic
8.1

A small fast navy boat that carries torpedoes to attack ships

heavy torpedo
  • Specialized
8.3

A large underwater weapon launched from submarines with a very powerful warhead to sink big ships

heavyweight torpedo
  • Specialized
7.9

A large underwater weapon with a very powerful explosive charge that submarines use to attack ships

homing torpedo
  • Specialized
8.8

A weapon that finds and follows an enemy ship or submarine using sound

torpedo-boat destroyer
  • Archaic
9.9

A small navy ship that protects larger ships by attacking fast boats with torpedoes

submarine torpedo
  • Specialized
5.6

A long underwater weapon fired by a submarine to hit ships

wire-guided torpedo
  • Specialized
8.6

An underwater weapon that moves by itself and is steered by a wire from the ship that fired it

Surface Forms

torpedo infinitive
torpedoed past
torpedoed past participle
torpedoing present participle
torpedoes third person singular

Etymology

Torpedo as a verb comes from the weapon torpedo; to 'torpedo' a ship is to attack it with that underwater bomb, which is why the verb means to hit or attack with such a weapon.