fireball

[ fahyuhr-bawl ]
See synonyms for: fireballfireballs on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a ball of fire, as the sun; a shooting star.

  2. a luminous meteor, sometimes exploding.

  1. lightning having the appearance of a globe of fire; ball lightning.

  2. the highly luminous central portion of a nuclear explosion.

  3. a ball filled with explosive or combustible material, used as a projectile to injure the enemy by explosion or to set fire to their works.

  4. Informal. an exceptionally energetic or ambitious person.

Origin of fireball

1
First recorded in 1545–55; fire + ball1

Words Nearby fireball

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fireball in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fireball

fireball

/ (ˈfaɪəˌbɔːl) /


noun
  1. a ball-shaped discharge of lightning

  2. the bright spherical region of hot ionized gas at the centre of a nuclear explosion

  1. astronomy another name for bolide

  2. slang an energetic person

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012