AIRPLANE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does airplane mean? 

• AIRPLANE (noun)
  The noun AIRPLANE has 1 sense:

1. an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets

  Familiarity information: AIRPLANE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AIRPLANE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

aeroplane; airplane; plane

Context example:

the flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane

Hypernyms ("airplane" is a kind of...):

heavier-than-air craft (a non-buoyant aircraft that requires a source of power to hold it aloft and to propel it)

Meronyms (parts of "airplane"):

accelerator; accelerator pedal; gas; gas pedal; gun; throttle (a pedal that controls the throttle valve)

windscreen; windshield (transparent screen (as of glass) to protect occupants of a vehicle)

radar dome; radome (a housing for a radar antenna; transparent to radio waves)

wing (one of the horizontal airfoils on either side of the fuselage of an airplane)

navigation light (light on an airplane that indicates the plane's position and orientation; red light on the left (port) wing tip and green light on the right (starboard) wing tip)

landing gear (an undercarriage that supports the weight of the plane when it is on the ground)

fuel pod; pod (a detachable container of fuel on an airplane)

bonnet; cowl; cowling; hood (protective covering consisting of a metal part that covers the engine)

fuselage (the central body of an airplane that is designed to accommodate the crew and passengers (or cargo))

escape hatch (hatchway that provides a means of escape in an emergency)

Domain member category:

astern ((of a ship or an airplane) behind)

hunt (yaw back and forth about a flight path)

prang (crash)

atomic number 22; Ti; titanium (a light strong grey lustrous corrosion-resistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts); the main sources are rutile and ilmenite)

leeway ((of a ship or plane) sideways drift)

drift (the gradual departure from an intended course due to external influences (as a ship or plane))

passenger; rider (a traveler riding in a vehicle (a boat or bus or car or plane or train etc) who is not operating it)

highjacker; hijacker (someone who uses force to take over a vehicle (especially an airplane) in order to reach an alternative destination)

place; seat (a space reserved for sitting (as in a theater or on a train or airplane))

log (a written record of events on a voyage (of a ship or plane))

circumnavigation (traveling around something (by ship or plane))

defroster; deicer (heater that removes ice or frost (as from a windshield or a refrigerator or the wings of an airplane))

roll-on roll-off (a method of transport (as a ferry or train or plane) that vehicles roll onto at the beginning and roll off of at the destination)

dip circle; inclinometer (a measuring instrument for measuring the angle of magnetic dip (as from an airplane))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "airplane"):

airliner (a commercial airplane that carries passengers)

amphibian; amphibious aircraft (an airplane designed to take off and land on water)

biplane (old fashioned airplane; has two wings one above the other)

bomber (a military aircraft that drops bombs during flight)

delta wing (an airplane with wings that give it the appearance of an isosceles triangle)

attack aircraft; fighter; fighter aircraft (a high-speed military or naval airplane designed to destroy enemy aircraft in the air)

hangar queen (an airplane with a bad maintenance record)

jet; jet-propelled plane; jet plane (an airplane powered by one or more jet engines)

monoplane (an airplane with a single wing)

multiengine airplane; multiengine plane (a plane with two or more engines)

propeller plane (an airplane that is driven by a propeller)

reconnaissance plane (a military airplane used to gain information about an enemy)

hydroplane; seaplane (an airplane that can land on or take off from water)

ski-plane (an airplane equipped with skis so it can land on a snowfield)

tanker plane (an airplane constructed to transport chemicals that can be dropped in order to fight a forest fire)

 Context examples 

Motion sickness is a common problem in people traveling by car, train, airplanes and especially boats.

(Motion Sickness, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

It is used in medicine and dentistry and in many products such as foil, cans, pots and pans, airplanes, siding, and roofs.

(Aluminum, NCI Dictionary)

This can happen if you are flying in an airplane, driving in the mountains, or scuba diving.

(Barotrauma, NIH)

Examples of common phobias include fear of spiders, flying in an airplane, elevators, heights, enclosed rooms, crowded public places, and embarrassing oneself in front of other people.

(Phobia, NCI Dictionary)

Earth has its own polar stratospheric clouds, which typically form above the North Pole and South Pole between 49,000 and 82,000 feet (15 to 25 kilometers) — well above cruising altitude for airplanes.

(NASA Finds Methane Ice Cloud in Titan's Stratosphere, NASA)

QueSST is the initial design stage of NASA’s planned Low Boom Flight Demonstration (LBFD) experimental airplane, otherwise known as an X-plane.

(NASA Completes Milestone Toward Quieter Supersonic X-Plane, NASA)

Airplanes are a good example of this effect: a closer, low-flying plane will appear to fly overhead more rapidly than a high-flying one.

(A cold, close neighbor of the Sun, NASA)

Examples include, but are not limited to, airplane, apple, cartoon characters, heart, kidney, shield, and train shapes.

(Freeform, NCI Thesaurus)

While either the land surface or the Sun can serve as the background, using a celestial body is simpler and cheaper because the camera can be located on the ground rather than on a second airplane.

(Seeing Shock Waves, EARTH OBSERVATORY)

The XS-1 would be neither a traditional airplane nor a conventional launch vehicle, but rather a combination of the two, with the goal of lowering launch costs by a factor of 10 and replacing today’s frustratingly long wait time with launch on demand, said Jess Sponable, DARPA program manager.

(Hypersonic Space Plane May Soon Be a Reality, VOA)