: a dam placed in a watercourse to increase the depth of water or to divert it into a channel for navigation or irrigation
1
military
: artillery fire laid on a line (see line entry 1 sense 6c) close to friendly troops to screen and protect them
The enemy laid down a barrage of machine-gun fire as our platoon approached the bridge.
2
: a vigorous or rapid outpouring or projection of many things at once
a barrage of phone calls
unleashed a barrage of insults
an oratorical barrage
barraged; barraging
: to deliver a barrage (see barrage entry 2) against
were barraged with bullets
being barraged by campaign ads before the election
Synonyms
Examples of barrage in a Sentence
Noun (2)
the teacher's rapid-fire barrage of homework assignments went by too fast for me to write them all down
Verb
the star athlete was barraged with requests for an autograph
Recent Examples on the Web
Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 5 July 2024
Yet Israelis consider Hezbollah’s barrage of rockets and missiles to be acts of pure aggression.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 28 June 2024
This is the first ballistic missile launch since Kim Jong Un’s regime fired off a simultaneous barrage of short-range ballistic missiles in late May.
—Jon Herskovitz and Shinhye Kang / Bloomberg, TIME, 26 June 2024
For this reason, many Kansas City residents have been receiving a barrage of phone calls, text messages, paper mail and even in-person visits from investors hoping to buy their homes with cash.
—Natalie Wallington, Kansas City Star, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrage 
Noun
The barrage was the biggest in a steadily escalating exchange of fire between the two sides since Oct. 7.
—Hazem Balousha, Washington Post, 5 July 2024
Yet Israelis consider Hezbollah’s barrage of rockets and missiles to be acts of pure aggression.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 28 June 2024
This is the first ballistic missile launch since Kim Jong Un’s regime fired off a simultaneous barrage of short-range ballistic missiles in late May.
—Jon Herskovitz and Shinhye Kang / Bloomberg, TIME, 26 June 2024
For this reason, many Kansas City residents have been receiving a barrage of phone calls, text messages, paper mail and even in-person visits from investors hoping to buy their homes with cash.
—Natalie Wallington, Kansas City Star, 24 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for barrage
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barrage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near barrage
Cite this Entry
“Barrage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barrage. Accessed 14 Jul. 2024.
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