SINCE 1828
airfoil
noun
air·foil
| \ -ˌfȯi(-ə)l
\
\
Definition of airfoil
: a body (such as an airplane wing or propeller blade) designed to provide a desired reaction force when in motion relative to the surrounding air
Examples of airfoil in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The above image shows the computational grid, rendered as blue lines, as well as the airfoil and the flow solution, showing how the grid adapts itself to the flow. — Lee Phillips, Ars Technica, "Turbulence, the oldest unsolved problem in physics," 10 Oct. 2018 In the bowing airfoil shape, air moving over the longer, curved side moves faster than air flowing by the other side, generating lift. — Popular Mechanics, "The Beginner's Guide To Sailing," 18 May 2018 The aircraft design uses Honda's over-the-wing engine mount, developed on the original HondaJet, as well as a composite fuselage and natural laminar flow airfoil. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Honda's New Business Jet Has Longer Range—and a Toilet Seatbelt," 30 May 2018 How Wind Moves a Boat A sail full of wind forms an airfoil and propels the boat with lift, the way a plane’s wing does (except across water, rather than into the air). — Popular Mechanics, "The Beginner's Guide To Sailing," 18 May 2018 Domel, Saadat and other colleagues working at Harvard biology professor George Lauder’s lab used 3-D printing to recreate the shape of shortfin mako shark denticles onto an airfoil. — Sydney Pereira, Newsweek, "To Fly Faster, Humans Look to the Mysteries of Shark Skin," 7 Feb. 2018 Lincoln Design Director David Woodhouse points to the converging roof and rocker lines that create an airfoil-like shape, while the bold front end and tapered greenhouse echoes historic aircraft design. — Gary Gastelu, Fox News, "New York Auto Show: The Lincoln Aviator SUV returns," 28 Mar. 2018 The motor directly drives the fan’s airfoils (1) (commonly known as fan blades). — Kevin Dupzyk, Popular Mechanics, "Things Come Apart: Ceiling Fan," 26 Feb. 2018 My Q50 Sport had a more angular front bumper and wider, lower air intakes, and a more prominent airfoil below the front bumper. — Emma Jayne Williams, star-telegram, "Infiniti tweaks the Q50 sedan for 2018 with revised exterior, interior features | Fort Worth Star-Telegram," 20 Jan. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'airfoil.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on airfoil
What made you want to look up airfoil? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
What did you just call me?! A Quiz
-
- If a member of the audience describes your speech as bombastic, does that person mean it is:
Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Share airfoil
Resources for airfoil