ballistic

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective relating to or characteristic of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum and the force of gravity

From Latin ballista (“a military siege engine for throwing stones”) + -ic.

In spite of his attempt at a cool veneer, he might go ballistic. — Life Blood, Thomas Hoover
[C3-259] THE TRAJECTORY The cumulative evidence of eyewitnesses, firearms and ballistic experts and medical authorities demonstrated that the shots were fired from above and behind President Kennedy and Governor Connally, more particularly, from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. — Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, United States. Warren Commission
This thirty feet, which it was necessary to cross from the wood to the palisade, constituted the dangerous zone, to borrow a ballistic term: in fact, one or more bullets fired from behind the palisade might knock over any one who ventured on to this zone. — The Mysterious Island, Jules Verne

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