Exocet

[ ek-soh-set ]

Trademark.

1. a winged, radar-guided French anti-ship missile, launched from the surface or an aircraft, that skims the waves at close to the speed of sound.

Exocet

/ ˈɛksəʊˌsɛt /

noun

1. a tactical missile with a high-explosive warhead, which is guided by computer and radar, travels at a very low altitude at high subsonic speed, and has a range of up to 70 km. It may be launched from a ship, aircraft, or submarine

Word History and Origins

Origin of Exocet¹

C20: from French, from New Latin Exocoetus volitans flying fish

Example Sentences

Championship: Adam Armstrong scores his eighth goal in seven games for Blackburn Rovers, blasting an Exocet of a strike into th e roof of the Barnsley net to convert a cross from the right.

From The Guardian

"So when I changed my name and became Elton John, I just went off like an Exocet missile, and I had a great time. I lived my teenage years in my 20s, basically."

From BBC

We'll run out of ships before they run out of Exocets.

From Literature

In the last tanker war, Iran placed Russian-made sea mines in the path of targeted ships, and Iraq fired Exocet missiles at them from its French-made aircraft.

From Los Angeles Times

He reprised Jo Johnson’s deadly Brexit Exocet comparing the chaos to the Suez crisis, and he denounced May’s false choice between “a botched deal or no deal”.

From The Guardian