surface-to-air missile
19
6.3
- noun
- /ˈsɜrfɪs tə ɛr ˈmɪsəl/
- Specialized
:
misil tierra-aire
- We were able to thwart the purchase of $26 million of surface-to-air missiles... ...the terrorist group was planning on buying.
So you want, you know, the anti aircraft guns or or surface to air missiles.
- So you want, you know, the anti aircraft guns or or surface to air missiles.
- I heard three somethings and if it'd have been a Sam surface to air missile, I wouldn't be here with you today.
- You know, it was an open source statement or rule that we're always looking for Stinger missiles or surface to air missiles.
- RPGs flying under the rotor surface to air missiles, man pads.
- Sam is a surface to air missile, missile talking on it.
- But we want to arm you guys to the teeth, not just with surface to air missiles, but with the knowledge that's an old meme.
Examples
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During the Gaddafi overthrow, massive stockpiles of Libyan weapons, including MANPADS and other surface-to-air missiles, were looted from the military storage facilities.
Blog text (17) -
Qatar, home to an important U.S. military base since 1996, hosts army Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries and a large U.S. Air Force airspace operation center on its soil.
Academic text (2015) -
But the tanks are protected by surface-to-air missiles.
-
My military complex is surrounded by laser-guided, surface-to-air missile sites.
Blog text (19) -
These planes were mostly shot down by Soviet supplied surface to air missiles supplied to the Egyptian and Syrian armies.
-
Sir, may I interest you in the shoulder-fired SA-7 surface-to-air missiles?
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Why were arms recently purchased from Moscow and Prague, including more and newer surface-to-air missile batteries?
Academic text (1991) -
The facility is also surrounded by short-range, Russian-made TOR-M surface-to-air missiles.
Academic text (2012) -
Civil air traffic resumed for the first time in more than a decade, but the threat of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles still makes travel to the airport, renamed Baghdad International Airport, dangerous.
Academic text (2005) -
Taiwan's defense ministry said today that China launched two surface-to-air missiles into the sea near the island.
Synonyms
∞
4.9
A weapon with its own engine that flies to a target and explodes
22
9.6
A small guided missile fired from the shoulder to hit low-flying aircraft
10
4.1
A rocket that can change its path in flight to hit a target
3
6.0
A missile fired from land or a ship to hit aircraft
Antonyms
How Specialized
- Specialized
1
6.3
- Specialized
19
6.3
- Specialized
15
8.4
- Specialized
∞
4.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
surface-to-air + missile
The compound is fully compositional: 'surface-to-air' literally indicates direction/location (from the surface toward the air) and 'missile' names the weapon, so the combined meaning is a missile launched from the ground/ship aimed at aircraft. This clear, cross-linguistically common locative + noun construction is predictable from the constituents and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the component words.
Etymology
Surface-to-air missile is a name that shows its path: a missile sent from the surface 'from the ground or a ship' into the air 'to shoot down planes'. That's why the term means 'a weapon fired from the ground or a ship to shoot down aircraft'.