Definition of "antiballistic missile" [antiballistic missile]

• A defensive missile designed to intercept and destroy a ballistic missile in flight. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "During those months, the U.S. Army established its first formal requirements for a surface-to-air antiballistic missile system; President Truman signed a bill providing a 5,000-mile guided-missile test range, which was subsequently established at Cape Canaveral, Florida; and a single-stage Russian rocket with an instrument payload of some 270 pounds flew to an altitude of sixty-eight miles."
• "Andrews, Tom anti-icing systems antiballistic missile system antiwar movement"