intercontinental

adjective

in·​ter·​con·​ti·​nen·​tal ˌin-tər-ˌkän-tə-ˈnen-tᵊl How to pronounce intercontinental (audio)
1
: extending among continents or carried on between continents
2
: capable of traveling between continents
intercontinental ballistic missile

Examples of intercontinental in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Another customer operates a factory that produces command posts for Russia’s nuclear-capable Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system. Pei-Lin Wu, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2024 This approach to saving time and money on an intercontinental business jet, without compromising quality, has been adopted by ACJ’s competitor, Boeing Business Jets, which announced a similar program recently. Daniel Cote, Robb Report, 21 Feb. 2024 The Soviets had already achieved parity in the raw numbers of intercontinental ballistic missiles by the late 1960s and had a huge lead in megatonnage by 1970. Niall Ferguson, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024 The sources said the Russian technology in question is designed to target American satellites, something experts say Russia — and other nuclear-armed powers — is more than capable of doing using intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, launched from the ground. Alexander Smith, NBC News, 15 Feb. 2024 The launch comes just two days after South Korea's First Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said that North Korea could fire an intercontinental ballistic missile within the month. Stepheny Price, Fox News, 14 Feb. 2024 The fares include food; drinks including wines and spirits; many excursions; gratuities; round-trip flights in business class on intercontinental air travel from the U.S. and Canada; and more. Nathan Diller, USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2024 The system was designed as an efficient, intercontinental fast lane beside the traffic jam of traditional justice. Jesse Barron, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2024 There is doubt that the North has yet built a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the United States. Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'intercontinental.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of intercontinental was circa 1855

Dictionary Entries Near intercontinental

Cite this Entry

“Intercontinental.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/intercontinental. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

intercontinental

adjective
in·​ter·​con·​ti·​nen·​tal ˌint-ər-ˌkänt-ᵊn-ˈent-ᵊl How to pronounce intercontinental (audio)
1
: extending among or carried on between continents
intercontinental trade
2
: capable of traveling from one continent to another
an intercontinental ballistic missile

More from Merriam-Webster on intercontinental

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