rotorcraft

noun

ro·​tor·​craft ˈrō-tər-ˌkraft 

plural rotorcraft

: an aircraft (such as a helicopter) whose lift is derived principally from rotating airfoils

Examples of rotorcraft in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Not the least of these is that your average rotorcraft can't manage to lift a payload that weighs more than itself. —New Atlas, 26 Nov. 2025

This could be accomplished by multiple robotic explorers forming a communications chain down into the caves, ranging from wheeled rovers that carefully navigate down each step, to climbing robots lowered by winches or aerial rotorcraft that can fly in and out of the skylights. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 24 Nov. 2025

Flight data captured by the website Flightradar24, mapped by Newsweek above, showed the rotorcraft departing US Davis Medical Center in a northerly direction before its signal is lost just before Highway 50. —Robert Birsel, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025

Unlike rotorcraft drones, bird-like machines could blend efficiency with stealth, navigating turbulent conditions more naturally. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 18 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for rotorcraft

• allograft
• autograft
• autographed
• countershaft
• handicraft
• homograft
• hovercraft
• lithographed
• overdraft
• photographed
• telegraphed
• understaffed