How to Use torpedo in a Sentence

torpedo

1 of 2 noun
  • The battleship was sunk by a torpedo fired by a submarine.
  • Breakker hit a third torpedo spear for the win.
    — Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 9 May 2026
  • That would be his new torpedo bat.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Celaya was sleeping on the ship’s top deck when the first torpedo hit.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 31 Aug. 2020
  • If you can’t be bothered to spit out a torpedo-size pit or slice around it, these will do!
    — Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit, 24 Nov. 2021
  • Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.
    — CBS News, 4 Mar. 2026
  • And for that matter, what are torpedoes?
    — James Dwyer, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
  • When cruise missiles first went to sea, submarines launched them from torpedo tubes.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 17 May 2022
  • Images showed the ship's three-tube torpedo launcher and gun mount.
    — CBS News, 25 June 2022
  • Unlike missiles or torpedoes, mines don’t need to be aimed.
    — Terry Moseley, USA Today, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Here’s to those halcyon days of the torpedo bat.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2025
  • Shock raced through me like a torpedo before landing in a hard knot at the pit of my stomach.
    — EW.com, 29 Sep. 2021
  • The drone used during the mission has a shape similar to a small torpedo.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 12 July 2021
  • The idea here is to make the torpedo manoeuvre in such a way as to break its guidance wires, or throw off its sonar.
    — James Dwyer, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
  • It is equipped with a weapons bay and pylons for carrying torpedoes and missiles.
    — Ryan Chan, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
  • Enemy planes dropped two aerial torpedoes and one bomb on the Utah.
    — Linda Dudik, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Dec. 2025
  • Meyer got into gear after a second torpedo knocked out the lights.
    — Sig Christenson, ExpressNews.com, 7 Dec. 2020
  • The footage was obtained by strapping a camera to a practice torpedo.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 2 Dec. 2020
  • Or the commander of one of the other subs could have decided to launch a torpedo.
    — Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 5 Oct. 2020
  • Two of those arms seem to be longer than the other eight, and its body was shaped like a torpedo, similar to modern squid.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 8 Mar. 2022
  • Once located, a hole is drilled over the ice, and the team begins to recover the torpedo.
    — Jon Schlosberg, ABC News, 15 Mar. 2022
  • Two big fish shot by like titanium torpedoes.
    — Susan Casey, Travel + Leisure, 10 Jan. 2026
  • When flattened, their dorsal fin can help turn the sailfish into a torpedo that shoots through the water.
    — Monica Cull, Discover Magazine, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo — Quiet Death.
    — Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Dressel resembles a human torpedo in the first five seconds of a race.
    — Tonia Cowan, WSJ, 30 July 2021
  • But, by far, her most potent weapons are her stockpile of anti-ship, air-to-air, cruise missiles, and torpedoes.
    — Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 22 Mar. 2026
  • The sheer explosive power of a single typical torpedo is enough to break the keel of most ships.
    — David Axe, Forbes, 26 Jan. 2022
  • One or two of those torpedoes appear to have exploded onboard, killing most of the men on the submarine.
    — Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2020
  • While torpedoes are still an old technology, there is still little in the way of active defences against them.
    — James Dwyer, Fortune, 6 Mar. 2026
  • Meanwhile, missiles, drones and now torpedoes are finding new targets.
    — Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 5 Mar. 2026

torpedo

2 of 2 verb
  • Her injury torpedoed her goal of competing in the Olympics.
  • The submarine torpedoed the battleship.
  • Trump himself has long torpedoed the very idea of a carbon tax.
    — Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2025
  • Not this year, due to the strike that almost torpedoed the whole darn shebang.
    — Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2023
  • The race to the bottom doesn’t just torpedo your margins.
    — Robert Johnson, Rolling Stone, 1 May 2026
  • The idea of female friendships -- and what can torpedo them -- is hardly a new one.
    — Brian Lowry, CNN, 10 Dec. 2020
  • This created special risks since any one stock falling could torpedo the firm.
    — Margot Patrick, WSJ, 7 June 2021
  • The strikes threaten to torpedo the deal before it can be finalized.
    — Jon Gambrell, Fortune, 28 June 2026
  • All failed, torpedoed by the intransigence of one side or the other.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko Nanna Heitmann, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Steyer didn’t have a major gaffe or scandal that torpedoed his campaign.
    — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 10 June 2026
  • If those best interests torpedo the best interests of other schools then … sucks for them.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 28 July 2022
  • This blind spot threatens to torpedo activists’ success.
    — Time, 7 Aug. 2025
  • And simply looking down one of these runs can torpedo a skier’s confidence.
    — Frederick Dreier, Outside Online, 22 Feb. 2022
  • Just as troublesome, dating back a few games, are penalties that have torpedoed promising drives.
    — oregonlive, 29 Oct. 2019
  • One flag at such a critical time torpedoed Cleveland’s scoring chance.
    — Ellis L. Williams, cleveland, 14 Oct. 2019
  • Dorsey wanted to move away from all the factions, second-guessing and finger-pointing that have torpedoed the team for years.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland.com, 8 Sep. 2019
  • The Padres can, and many times do, buy insurance to protect against injuries that can torpedo big contracts.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Feb. 2021
  • Losing a player like Woolridge would be enough to torpedo most mid-major programs.
    — Brett Vito, Denton Record-Chronicle, 8 Jan. 2020
  • Summer plan is already torpedoed.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 26 Feb. 2026
  • No one in the child-welfare world doubts that one parent can torpedo the other’s relationship with a son or daughter.
    — Barbara Bradley Hagerty, The Atlantic, 24 Nov. 2020
  • The move came amid several ongoing court cases even as Amazon has tried hard to torpedo the deal.
    — Niharika Sharma, Quartz, 16 Mar. 2022
  • The avoidance of a small problem that then nearly torpedoed your whole reputation?
    — Demetria Gallegos, WSJ, 29 July 2023
  • Why would Trump choose this, of all moments, to torpedo economic policy?
    — Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2020
  • Nothing torpedoes a ballclub faster than bad contracts, and the Astros have done well to avoid them for most of their dynastic run.
    — Daniel R. Epstein, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2024
  • The Senate could yet torpedo the House plan with a total rewrite — though time is quickly running out.
    — David Greising, Chicago Tribune, 8 May 2026
  • Failure to conform to the fearlessness of the steelworker had torpedoed my dad’s self-esteem.
    — Deborah Orr, The New York Review of Books, 7 Feb. 2020
  • After months of breaking records, what has happened to torpedo Ohio’s gambling revenue in recent weeks?
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 8 Dec. 2020
  • Isaac Paredes is supposed to solve it but is still recovering from the type of injury that has torpedoed this season.
    — Chandler Rome, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2025
  • But even a couple of unexpected wins probably torpedo that plan.
    — Sean McIndoe, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
  • Even if they are acquitted, would their teammates accept them back after the ordeal has threatened to torpedo this season?
    — Chuck Murr, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'torpedo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: