Dictionary

go ballistic en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

The idiomatic usage derives from the second-generation of jet fighters, armed with guided missiles, in the late 1950s into the 1960s, with the informal military sense of fully-powered non-ballistic missiles going ballistic when losing control and assuming a free-fall trajectory, sense 3. But in subsequent usage the term has often become associated with the intentionally ballistic, suborbital trajectories of long-range, typically nuclear-armed missiles, sense 2.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To become very angry and irrational.
   • The guy went ballistic when I tried to tell him he couldn't return the socks if the package had been opened.
   • Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Hey, sorry for going ballistic back there. I think the whole Julie-being-alive thing affected me more than I thought. 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)
   • She'd go ballistic, possibly even fling a fireball or two, if she knew Selene had him in her apartment. 1964, Elle James and Pamela Kent, Enemy Lover
2. for a usually rocket-powered, predominantly non-glide projectile or aerial vehicle, such as a ballistic missile, to travel to its target partly via unpowered ballistic or quasi-ballistic flight, usually following burnout of its rocket motor
   • SRAM is a very flexible weapon. It has a ballistic trajectory. It can be launched and go ballistic into its target for a long range... and it can go short range at very low levels. 1978, United States Senate, Part 8 of Fiscal year 1978 authorization for military procurement, research and development, and active duty, selected reserve, and civilian personnel strengths: hearings before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, first session, on S. 1210
3. (slang) for a powered, usually guided missile or other aerial vehicle to travel on an unguided or ballistic trajectory, having lost power, control or guidance
   • In the case of retarded bombs released at too high a speed, the retarding fins might tear away and allow the bomb to go ballistic. 1986, Alfred Price, Air Battle Central Europe
   • I... fired two AIM-7s in a ripple. One AIM-7 went ballistic. The other guided but passed behind the MIG and did not detonate. Knowing that I was then too close for further AIM-7 firing... 1976, Robert Frank Futrell, The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia-- aces and aerial victories, 1965-1973
   • Putting something between you and the guidance radar will cause the missile to go ballistic. 1983, Michael Skinner, USAFE: A primer of modern air combat in Europe

Forms

Translations (9)

cs bouchnout saze (become very angry) · uk репнути нерви (become very angry) · pt perder as estribeiras (become very angry) · de in die Luft gehen (become very angry) · fr craquer son slip (become very angry) · cs rupnout nervy (become very angry) · fr péter une pile (become very angry) · fr partir en vrille (become very angry) · fr devenir fou furieux (become very angry)