airplane

noun

air·​plane ˈer-ˌplān 

: a powered heavier-than-air aircraft with fixed wings from which it derives most of its lift

Illustration of airplane

• 1 weather radar
• 2 cockpit
• 3 jet engine
• 4 engine pod
• 5 pylon
• 6 wing
• 7 vertical stabilizer
• 8 rudder
• 9 10 tabs
• 11 elevator
• 12 horizontal stabilizer
• 13 inboard flap
• 14 inboard spoiler
• 15 16 tabs
• 17 aileron
• 18 outboard flap
• 19 outboard spoiler
• 20 sound suppressor
• 21 thrust reverser
• 22 cabin air intake
• 23 fuselage
• 24 nose landing gear

Synonyms of airplane

• plane
• aeroplane
• airliner

Examples of airplane in a Sentence

my uncle learned how to fly an airplane while serving in the air force

Recent Examples on the Web

If you aren’t sold on airplane jeans, this would be the easiest way to elevate your travel outfit. —Kaitlin Clapinski, InStyle, 21 Jan. 2026

This was, after all, a man accustomed to jumping out of airplanes without parachutes, starring under the big top of Nitro Circus, and treating physics like a polite suggestion. —Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026

Seats and Legroom Thanks to a range of fare classes and different airplane configurations, exact legroom and seat design can vary from flight to flight. —Elizabeth Rhodes, Travel + Leisure, 19 Jan. 2026

At the Alaska Aviation Museum, near the airport in Anchorage, a Boeing 737 with the logo of Alaska Airlines on its sides and the company’s emblem of a smiling, parka-wearing Native man on its tail sits with other mothballed airplanes outside a hangar. —Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

alteration of aeroplane

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing airplane

• airplane mode

Rhymes for airplane

• abstain
• alkane
• arcane
• arraign
• attain
• backplane
• betaine
• biplane
• blockchain
• butane
• campaign
• cetane

Kids Definition

airplane

noun

air·​plane ˈa(ə)r-ˌplān 

ˈe(ə)r-

: a fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft that is driven by a propeller or by a forceful stream of gases backward and is supported by the reaction of the air against its wings