plural payloads
1
: the load carried by a vehicle exclusive of what is necessary for its operation
especially
: the load carried by an aircraft or spacecraft consisting of people or things (such as passengers or instruments) necessary to the purpose of the flight
NASA's first post-Challenger launching is tentatively set for May 1. Its payload, the NOAA-G weather satellite, will be lofted by an expendable Scout rocket. —
J. Eberhart
J. Eberhart Their objective was to size the airplane according to its intended payload. —Clive Irving
Clive Irving 2
: the weight of a payload
… the Bronco had a payload of 2000 pounds.—Darryl Young
Darryl YoungMaximum fuel load is 3,550 pounds, leaving a payload of just 360 pounds with full tanks.—J. Mac McClellan
J. Mac McClellan3
: the destructive component carried by a missile or bomb
… they did not fail to realize that a missile powerful enough to put a satellite into orbit could also deliver a nuclear payload to Washington, D.C., or New York, or Chicago, or any major American city.—Alex Wellerstein
Alex Wellerstein
also
: something likened to such a payload
American computer security experts were first to spot another worm whose virus payload was contained within an e-mail that masqueraded as a virus alert from Symantec. —Pacific Business News
Pacific Business News Thus, a potential pitfall for using adenoviruses as a vaccine delivery system is that a person's immune system may end up responding more to the adenovirus itself than the vaccine's genetic payload … —Beth Mole
Beth Mole Synonyms
Examples of payload in a Sentence
The truck is carrying a payload of 2,580 pounds.
the space shuttle can carry a maximum payload of approximately 50,000 pounds
Recent Examples on the Web
Though one of its three parachutes was slow to deploy, the capsule also safely landed just after 10 minutes into the flight in a remote area as a team deployed to recover the craft and its scientific payloads.
—Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
The Falcon Heavy needed a test payload, and Musk decided to use his personal 2010 Tesla Roadster.
—Joel Thayer, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
The bike has a max payload rating of 286 lb (130 kg), while weighing in at 242 lb (110 kg).
—New Atlas, 26 Jan. 2025
The Strange One Chinese company had a prototype on offer with a big truck with a special payload bay containing a single-person multirotor aircraft with a short range.
—Brad Templeton, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for payload 
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Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
The Falcon Heavy needed a test payload, and Musk decided to use his personal 2010 Tesla Roadster.
—Joel Thayer, Newsweek, 27 Jan. 2025
The bike has a max payload rating of 286 lb (130 kg), while weighing in at 242 lb (110 kg).
—New Atlas, 26 Jan. 2025
The Strange One Chinese company had a prototype on offer with a big truck with a special payload bay containing a single-person multirotor aircraft with a short range.
—Brad Templeton, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for payload
Dictionary Entries Near payload
Cite this Entry
“Payload.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payload. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
payload
noun
pay·load
ˈpā-ˌlōd 
: something (as cargo, passengers, instruments, or explosives) carried by a vehicle in addition to what is necessary for its operation
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