moonshot
moonshot Lexical Profile
moonshot Game Scores & Validity
• noun
An extremely ambitious, exploratory, and groundbreaking project or undertaking embarked upon without any near-term expectation of profitability or guarantee of success.
"Developing a universal vaccine for all strains of the virus was viewed as a scientific moonshot."
The launching of a spacecraft or rocket to the Moon.
"Engineers worked around the clock to prepare the telemetry systems for the upcoming moonshot."
North American In baseball, a home run hit with an exceptionally high, towering trajectory.
"The slugger launched a towering moonshot into the upper deck in left field."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the late 1940s as a compound of 'moon' and 'shot' to describe the launching of a spacecraft to the Moon, the word gained its figurative sense of a bold, groundbreaking project in the wake of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969.