control surface

noun

: a movable airfoil designed to change the attitude of an aircraft

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web Kwak: Other structural components such as wing control surfaces (such as an aileron or a rudder) will be made of edible material by 3D food printing or molding. IEEE Spectrum, 8 Mar. 2023 The AeroCaster system consists of the AeroCaster VRC-01 hardware control surface and audio interface, the AeroCaster LIVE app for Apple iPad, plus the AeroCaster Camera app for iOS and Android mobile devices. Mark Sparrow, Forbes, 4 Jan. 2022 Airbus declined to comment on whether LOUT contains such a control system, but the quest to develop a craft without these moving control surfaces is definitely accelerating. Eric Tegler, Scientific American, 9 Jan. 2020 But traditional control surfaces require external seams that radar can detect with relative ease. Eric Tegler, Scientific American, 9 Jan. 2020 Control continuity was confirmed from the elevator, rudder, elevator trim, and rudder trim from each respective control surface to the area in the cabin consumed by fire, and then forward to the cockpit controls. BostonGlobe.com, 16 Oct. 2019 Her intriguing recent oils on canvas and panel at the Los Angeles gallery Luis De Jesus are painted with brushless exactitude, their crisp and controlled surfaces belying personal and interpersonal complexities beneath. Leah Ollman, Los Angeles Times, 2 Oct. 2019 Lasers can burn holes in ship hulls, torch flying drones and slice off control surfaces, and explode the propellant or warhead in an incoming missile. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 17 May 2019 Having bled off so much energy, the test pilot then masterfully plays his plane like a fiddle, using his engines and control surfaces to put the plane into a slow horizontal spin. Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 20 July 2017 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'control surface.' 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

1910, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of control surface was in 1910

Dictionary Entries Near control surface

Cite this Entry

“Control surface.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/control%20surface. Accessed 28 May. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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