Launch Meaning
/lɔːnt͡ʃ/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.
verbTo pierce with, or as with, a lance.
Sentence Examples
The general decided to launch an offensive against the enemy camp.
He is planning to launch his business.
The company plans to launch its new product tomorrow.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company will ____ a new smartphone model next month.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company plans to ____ its new product line early next month with a major advertising campaign today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English launchen (“to throw as a lance”), Old French lanchier, another form (Old Northern French/Norman variant, compare Jèrriais lanchi) of lancier, French lancer, from lance.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There they were met by four thousand Ha'apa'a warriors, who launched a volley of stones and spears[…]"
— 2011, Stephen Budiansky, Perilous Fight: America's Intrepid War with Britain on the High Seas, 1812-1815, page 323:
"And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds."
— 1591, Edmund Spenser, The Teares of the Muses:
"Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 5:4:
"A cheap rocket that could launch military reconnaisance satellites for developing countries has become involved in a tangled web of Nazi rocket scientists, Penthouse magazine, KGB disinformation, and a treaty reminiscent of the height of colonialism in Africa."
— 1978, Farooq Hussain, “Volksraketen for the Third World”, in New Scientist:
"All art is uſed to ſink Epiſcopacy, & lanch Presbytery in England."
— 1649, Eikon Basilike:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The company will ____ a new smartphone model next month.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The company plans to ____ its new product line early next month with a major advertising campaign today.