: the speed (as of an airplane) with relation to the air compare ground speed
Examples of airspeed in a Sentence
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In 1976, a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird set an airspeed record of 2,193 mph, which has also never been bettered.
—
Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 27 Apr. 2025
Many technologies have had phases where customers eagerly embrace every improvement in some parameter—until a saturation point is reached and improvements are ultimately met with a collective shrug.
Consider a very brief history of airspeed in commercial air travel.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Feb. 2025
Passenger aircraft today fly at around 900 kilometers per hour—and have continued to traverse the skies at the same airspeed range for the past five decades.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Feb. 2025
Here's what to know about how a plane can go missing:
How officials can lose a plane's location
Airplanes fly with a transponder, which sends continuous data on its current altitude, airspeed, latitude and longitude to receivers on the ground.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025
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Ben Oliver, Robb Report, 27 Apr. 2025
Many technologies have had phases where customers eagerly embrace every improvement in some parameter—until a saturation point is reached and improvements are ultimately met with a collective shrug.
Consider a very brief history of airspeed in commercial air travel.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Feb. 2025
Passenger aircraft today fly at around 900 kilometers per hour—and have continued to traverse the skies at the same airspeed range for the past five decades.
—IEEE Spectrum, 9 Feb. 2025
Here's what to know about how a plane can go missing:
How officials can lose a plane's location
Airplanes fly with a transponder, which sends continuous data on its current altitude, airspeed, latitude and longitude to receivers on the ground.
—Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY, 7 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for airspeed
Cite this Entry
“Airspeed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/airspeed. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
airspeed
noun
air·speed
-ˌspēd 
: the speed of an airplane according to measurements of the surrounding air rather than of the ground below
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