supersonic
Americanadjective
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greater than the speed of sound waves through air.
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capable of achieving such speed.
a supersonic plane.
adjective
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012-
Having a speed greater than that of sound in a designated medium, usually air; having a speed greater than Mach 1.
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Compare hypersonic subsonic transonic
Other Word Forms
- supersonically adverb
Etymology
Origin of supersonic
Compare meaning
How does supersonic compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On a crisp morning in California’s Mojave Desert, the skies cleared just enough for a jet to take off—and go supersonic.
The people in the Blue Jays’ organization who contributed to Yesavage’s supersonic rise tell stories about their brief interactions with him as if they are recounting the origin of a veteran ace in his twilight.
The fast solar wind -- a supersonic stream of charged particles -- originates mainly in the Sun's polar coronal holes and fills most of the heliosphere, shaping conditions in interplanetary space.
From Science Daily
In terms of purely destructive power, however, hypersonic missiles are not hugely different from supersonic or subsonic cruise missiles, according to Mr Freer.
From BBC
These too will be flown by RAF pilots, at supersonic speed.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
