airliner

noun

air·​lin·​er ˈer-ˌlī-nər How to pronounce airliner (audio)
: an airplane operated by an airline

Examples of airliner in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web According to the Federal Space Agency, a typical large airliner travels at about 80% of the speed of sound, which is roughly 600 mph, less than half as fast as the speed of Concorde. Doc Louallen, USA TODAY, 30 Aug. 2023 Andreas Lubitz, the young co-pilot who authorities say deliberately flew a Germanwings airliner into the French Alps, had been treated for suicidal tendencies and depressive episodes but hid his condition from his employer, French authorities found. Lisa Rein and Craig Whitlock, Anchorage Daily News, 27 Aug. 2023 In February, a JetBlue flight was 30 feet from touching down on the airport’s runway 4 Left when a Learjet operated by a charter company took off in front of the airliner from an intersecting runway. Pete Muntean, CNN, 23 Aug. 2023 In the first two months of the year, eight incidents involving airliners on or near runways were rated by the FAA as a serious risk of a collision or prompted the NTSB to open an investigation. Bloomberg Wire, Dallas News, 14 Aug. 2023 The civil aerospace business, which makes up roughly half of the British engineering company’s revenue and services engines for the likes of Airbus A350 airliners, saw a margin growth of 12.4%—the highest for the company in the recent decade. Byprarthana Prakash, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2023 None were considered serious incursions in which airliners had significant potential for collision or narrowly avoided a crash, according to the FAA’s data. Alexandra Skores, Dallas News, 24 Aug. 2023 Again, the wide-body airliner was tailored to his lavish tastes. Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 27 June 2023 Kaczynski, who had attended Harvard at 16-years-old and earned a Ph.D. in math at the University of Michigan, had also threatened to blow up airliners, according to the FBI. Luke Barr, ABC News, 10 June 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'airliner.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1908, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of airliner was in 1908

Dictionary Entries Near airliner

Cite this Entry

“Airliner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airliner. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

airliner

noun
air·​lin·​er -ˌlī-nər How to pronounce airliner (audio)
: an airplane operated by an airline
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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