intercontinental

[ in-ter-kon-tn-en-tl ]

adjective

1. between or among continents; involving two or more continents:

   intercontinental trade.

2. traveling or capable of traveling between continents:

   intercontinental airplanes.

intercontinental

/ ˌɪntəˌkɒntɪˈnɛntəl /

adjective

1. relating to travel, commerce, relations, etc, between continents

Word History and Origins

Origin of intercontinental¹

First recorded in 1850–55; inter- + continental

Example Sentences

And that was before Pyongyang fired a banned intercontinental missile on Thursday, on the longest flight recorded yet – after turning up the rhetoric against Seoul for weeks.

From BBC

Not only are intercontinental ballistic missiles redundant, but they are prone to a high risk of accidental use.…They do not make us any safer.

From Salon

The country is barred by United Nations Security Council resolutions from launching such rockets because they use the same technology needed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.

From New York Times

President Biden on Monday ordered a company with Chinese origins to shut down and sell the Wyoming cryptocurrency mine it built a mile from an Air Force base that controls nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

From New York Times

Tactical nuclear weapons, as the term implies, are far smaller and less powerful than strategic nuclear armaments such as intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear payloads that could lay waste to large population centers.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• continental
• global
• multicultural