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# torpedo

«torpedo» in Mova's school dictionary: **a long, cigar-shaped weapon that moves underwater by…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a torpedo, torpedoes); verb (torpedo, torpedoes, torpedoed, torpedoing)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A torpedo is a long, cigar-shaped weapon that moves underwater by itself and explodes when it hits a ship. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#m1)

2) To torpedo a ship is to hit it with a torpedo. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#m2)

3) To torpedo a plan (informal) is to ruin it completely. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#m3)

4) A torpedo ray is a fish that can give an electric shock. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons it comes up in both World Wars, with submarines and ships such as the Lusitania. In everyday talk, torpedoing a plan means wrecking it. Phrases: fire a torpedo, torpedo boat, torpedo a plan.

### examples

- The submarine fired a torpedo at the warship. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x1)
- The ship was torpedoed in 1915. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x2)
- The rain torpedoed our picnic plans. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x3)
- Torpedoes travel just under the water's surface. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x4)
- The dolphin shot through the water like a torpedo. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x5)
- The torpedo ray stuns small fish with electricity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x6)
- Dey tells me dat it goes off like one er deze yer torpedoes." [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/#x7)

### note

Plural: torpedoes (with -es). Past: torpedoed. The informal sense (to ruin) is common in news.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «torpedo» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/torpedo/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.