launching pad
4
4.4
- noun
- /ˈlɔːnʧɪŋ pæd/
- Specialized
:
plataforma de lanzamiento
- On the one hand, the internet is an important launching pad for human rights efforts; on the other, the internet has developed into an indispensable medium for terrorist planning, organization, and incitement.
Examples
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Basically, this company bought a part of NASA... he provided the money, NASA provided the technology, and the U.S. government rented out the launching pad.
Blog text (17) -
However, the NBA personnel interviewed for the piece suggest that the D-League's end goal is to become a launching pad for unpolished stars.
Blog text (32) -
We have exactly half an hour to get to the launching pad.
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All it needed, she realized, was a space shuttle and transportation to a launching pad, and it could be launched.
Fiction book (2000) -
The sea was relatively calm, and the moon reflected off the water as the crew labored to set up their makeshift launching pad.
Blog text (15) -
Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but it did not impose a blockade there until 2007 after Hamas seized power there and started using the area as a launching pad for rockets aimed at southern Israel.
Blog text (1) -
Also, many of the belligerent neighboring states have provided safe havens, territorial sanctuary, and convenient launching pads for the rebel insurgents' military operations across geopolitical boundaries.
Academic text (2004) -
The team prepared the satellite for launch at the launching pad early in the morning.
-
Thousands of spectators gathered to watch the rocket take off from the launching pad.
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Engineers conducted final checks before the spacecraft was moved to the launching pad.
Synonyms
107
7.2
A platform where rockets are launched into space
9
4.8
A place like an airport where rockets and spacecraft take off, land, and get fixed
9
3.5
A platform where rockets or spacecraft are launched into space
4
4.8
A platform where rockets begin their flight into space
1
9.9
A place where rockets and spacecraft are launched into space
1
4.0
A place where rockets or spaceships start their flight
1
5.4
A place with machines to send rockets or satellites into space
1
4.8
A military place where people keep, fix, and send rockets into the sky
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a platform or structure from which rockets or spacecraft are launched' is directly derivable from combining 'launch' (to send or propel into the air) with 'pad' (a platform or base), forming a location-for-action compound. This is a regular, cross-linguistically common compositional pattern (e.g., Spanish 'plataforma de lanzamiento') and therefore a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
Launching pad comes from the real platform used to send rockets into space. The word launching means 'to send up' and the pad is the flat base that holds the rocket, so the phrase literally names the place that supports a rocket when it launches.