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ICBM

ICBM

14 7.9
A long-range rocket weapon that can travel between continents and carry nuclear weapons
  • noun
  • /ˌaɪ siː biː ˈɛm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : misil balístico intercontinental
  • Under his leadership, the Soviet Union developed combat-ready intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and nuclear weapons with increasingly large yields.
  • ICBMs and SLBMs
  • mobile ICBMs
  • heavy ICBMs

We have ICBM silos under the ground.

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Examples

  • Our detection satellites give us a thirty-minute warning of their incoming ICBMs, which is all we need to take out Moscow within minutes after they hit Washington, D.C.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The United States successfully test-fired an ICBM that can hit targets over 6,000 miles away.

  • We have ICBM silos under the ground.

  • So ICBM silos are areas where we have our National Defense weapons and our national attack weapons.

  • You need one warhead and an ICBM to take out a national grid.

    Blog text (20)
  • Israel has nuclear submarines that can launch ICBMs at any target on the planet.

    Blog text (2)
  • This morning, the first full-range firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, was conducted by the United States.

  • Kim Jong-un's military forces targeted an uninhabited South Pacific island with a 15-megaton thermonuclear ICBM.

  • North Korea proudly announced the development of a new ICBM capable of reaching the mainland U.S.

  • During the Cold War, both superpowers stockpiled ICBMs as a deterrent against nuclear attacks.

Synonyms

7 7.4

A long range rocket that can fly between continents and carry a nuclear bomb

is the shortened abbreviation for the same long-range ballistic weapon

How Far

ICBM
  • Specialized
14 7.9
ballistic missile
  • Specialized
45 5.1
short-range
14 3.8

Surface Forms

ICBM singular
ICBMs plural

Morphology

ICBM = I + C + B + M

ICBM is an initialism whose component letters do not function as English morphemes, so the meaning cannot be derived from the parts by an average learner.

Etymology

ICBM comes from the first letters of Intercontinental ('between continents'), Ballistic ('like a thrown ball'), and Missile ('a weapon sent to a target'). So an ICBM is a rocket-like weapon that travels a long path between continents and can carry a nuclear warhead.