Illustration of catapult
- catapult 1
cat·a·pult
ˈka-tə-ˌpəlt 
-ˌpu̇lt
1
: an ancient military device for hurling missiles
2
: a device for launching an airplane at flying speed (as from an aircraft carrier)
catapulted; catapulting; catapults
: to throw or launch by or as if by a catapult
: to become catapulted
he catapulted to fame
Examples of catapult in a Sentence
Verb
They catapulted rocks toward the castle.
The publicity catapulted her CD to the top of the charts.
The novel catapulted him from unknown to best-selling author.
He catapulted to fame after his first book was published.
Her career was catapulting ahead.
Recent Examples on the Web
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
28 June 2026
The move catapults Anthropic ahead of its rival OpenAI, which Wall Street analysts expect could announce its own IPO sometime this year.
—
Mary Cunningham,
CBS News,
1 June 2026
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
30 June 2026
Packaging the 64th pick with one of their thirds could have catapulted them into the mid-40s, according to PuckPedia’s Perri Pick Value Calculator.
—
Vincent Z. Mercogliano,
New York Times,
28 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for catapult
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Noun
Its steam catapults enable the launch of Rafale M fighters and E-2C Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, providing capabilities unavailable to most STOVL carriers.
—
Kaif Shaikh,
Interesting Engineering,
28 June 2026
The move catapults Anthropic ahead of its rival OpenAI, which Wall Street analysts expect could announce its own IPO sometime this year.
—
Mary Cunningham,
CBS News,
1 June 2026
Verb
In his sixth and widely expected final World Cup, Argentinian Lionel Messi has scored six times already, including a hat trick in his opening game, catapulting the 39-year-old past Miroslav Klose’s 2014 record of 16 World Cup goals.
—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
30 June 2026
Packaging the 64th pick with one of their thirds could have catapulted them into the mid-40s, according to PuckPedia’s Perri Pick Value Calculator.
—
Vincent Z. Mercogliano,
New York Times,
28 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for catapult
Cite this Entry
“Catapult.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catapult. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
catapult
1 of 2 noun
cat·a·pult
ˈkat-ə-ˌpəlt
-ˌpu̇lt
1
: an ancient military device for hurling missiles
2
: a device for launching an airplane (as from the deck of an aircraft carrier)
catapult
2 of 2 verb1
: to throw or launch by or as if by a catapult
2
: to become catapulted
he catapulted to fame
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