airlift

noun

air·​lift ˈer-ˌlift 

: a system of transporting cargo or passengers by aircraft often to or from an otherwise inaccessible area

airlift transitive verb

Examples of airlift in a Sentence

an emergency airlift to deliver supplies to the famine victims

Recent Examples on the Web

Floodwaters breached the dam at the Mavil Aru Reservoir in the island’s east, forcing 2,000 people to higher ground and airlifts of over 120 residents by the air force. —MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Dec. 2025

Kerrville emergency services received numerous requests for airlift assistance, the suit says. —Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 12 Nov. 2025

One of them was transported via airlift to a medical facility in Baton Rouge. —Taylor Ardrey, USA Today, 3 Nov. 2025

Analysts say that the project, which is still in the planning stage, shows that Beijing wants to improve its military airlift capabilities to match or exceed those of Western countries. —Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1943, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for airlift

• adrift
• facelift
• festschrift
• forklift
• gearshift
• makeshift
• redshift
• sealift
• snowdrift
• spendthrift
• clift
• drift

Kids Definition

airlift

noun

air·​lift ˈa(ə)r-ˌlift 

ˈe(ə)r-

: a system of transporting cargo or passengers by aircraft to or from an area otherwise impossible to reach

airlift verb