SINCE 1828
airframe
noun
air·frame
| \ -ˌfrām
\
\
Definition of airframe
: the structure of an aircraft, rocket vehicle, or missile without the power plant
also
: aircraft
Examples of airframe in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The plane is built on a mid-sized regional turboprob, using the existing airframe, systems and propellers. — Charles Riley, CNN, "Electric planes herald new era for aviation at the Paris Air Show," 20 June 2019 The problem is so bad that B-1 air crews are being temporarily assigned to other airframes. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "Fewer Than Ten U.S. B-1 Bombers Are Ready for Action," 6 June 2019 The airframe has only 818 hours on it, and was overhauled at the 700-hour mark by the Lviv State Aircraft Repair Plant in Ukraine. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "For Sale: One MiG-29 Fighter Jet, Gently Used," 9 Jan. 2019 Alternately, the Air Force could choose to modernize the F-22 airframe with newer F-35 electronics, as Lockheed Martin has proposed doing for Japan. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The Air Force’s Next Great Fighter Jet Could Cost $300 Million Apiece," 17 Dec. 2018 For one thing, other than the B-2 Spirit there are no large, stealthy airframes ready to convert into tankers. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "The U.S. Air Force May Not Buy New Stealth Tanker After All, and the Light Attack Aircraft Could be Dead Too," 30 Jan. 2019 Furthermore, new airframe designs could, in many ways, be better suited to accommodate new weapons, C4ISR technologies, sensors, protection systems and avionics. — Kris Osborn, Fox News, "Marines will fly Osprey until 2060, prepping the aircraft for future wars," 18 Sep. 2018 The drone also has autonomous flight modes and obstacle avoidance, thanks to a suite of sensors and cameras embedded around the airframe. — Sean O'kane, The Verge, "DJI’s new drone features swappable search and rescue accessories," 29 Oct. 2018 The contours and structure of a new airframe itself could also bring new radar signature reducing properties as well as new mission and crew options. — Kris Osborn, Fox News, "Marines will fly Osprey until 2060, prepping the aircraft for future wars," 18 Sep. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'airframe.' 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 airframe
What made you want to look up airframe? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
What's that Smell?! Quiz
-
- Someone who is hircine smells like a:
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 QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Words at Play
Share airframe
Resources for airframe