Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- of or relating to ballistics.
- having its motion determined or describable by the laws of exterior ballistics.
- go ballistic, Informal. to become overwrought or irrational: went ballistic over the idea of a tax hike.
adjective
- of or relating to ballistics
- denoting or relating to the flight of projectiles after power has been cut off, moving under their own momentum and the external forces of gravity and air resistance
- (of a measurement or measuring instrument) depending on a brief impulse or current that causes a movement related to the quantity to be measureda ballistic pendulum
- go ballistic informal to become enraged or frenziedly violent
- (of materials) strong enough to resist damage by projectile weaponsballistic nylon
1775, “pertaining to thrown objects,” ultimately from Greek ballein “to throw” (see ballistics). Of rockets or missiles (ones that are guided while under propulsion, but fall freely), from 1949. Ballistic missile first attested 1954; they attain extreme heights, hence figurative expression go ballistic (1981) “become irrationally angry.”
see go ballistic.