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Recent Examples on the Web
Janelle James, Detroit Free Press, 1 June 2021
Traveling in a failing dirigible, de Maistre visits Xavi, a contemporary girl who discovers that her own room offers hidden adventure.
—New York Times, 31 Dec. 2020
Photos from later sightings appear to show the craft was an enormous white dirigible with an undercarriage described by one U.S. official as the size of three buses.
—ABC News, 12 Feb. 2023
The 10 days of derring-do acrobatics and races by celebrity plane and dirigible pilots did far more than even Los Angeles boosters might have dreamed.
—Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2023
The answer is to blow up small distinctions into dirigible-size differences, manufacture disagreements and go after rivals on attributes such as demeanor, character and temperament.
—Columnist
Follow, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2023
The grandest commercial dirigible the world has ever seen.
—Dennard Dayle, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
Two years later, Nobile returned to the Arctic with another dirigible, the Italia, and reached the North Pole again.
—David James, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Mar. 2022
Stettheimer was bringing popular magazines and window displays and musical-comedy manners into an art that was bound to look frivolous but that was as purposefully light as a dirigible, permanently afloat.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022
Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2022
Wingfoot Express dirigible took a joyride from Grant Park over the Loop, with catastrophic effects.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2022
But now that the transportation sector is looking for serious ways to cut carbon emissions, dirigibles are attempting to make a comeback.
—Starre Vartan, Popular Mechanics, 31 Mar. 2020
Three days later, the Hindenburg’s 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen erupted into a firestorm as the dirigible attempted to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey on the evening of May 6, 1937.
—Eric Larsen, USA TODAY, 17 Nov. 2019
Gadgets abound but her main secret weapon is the dirigible that, perpetually hovering in the clouds, can be used for surveillance and the application of knockout drugs, as well as facilitating various abductions, thefts and escapes.
—New York Times, 23 Oct. 2019
On a November evening last year, Jennifer Doudna put on a stylish black evening gown and headed to Hangar One, a building at NASA’s Ames Research Center that was constructed in 1932 to house dirigibles.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 Feb. 2015
Others include the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 and the deadly crash of the German dirigible Hindenburg in New Jersey in 1937.
—Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2018
Some sources reported dirigibles powered by steam engines.
—Greg Eghigian, Smithsonian, 2 Feb. 2018
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Adjective
There is an urban legend that the building's tower and orb were once used as a port for a dirigible.
—Janelle James, Detroit Free Press, 1 June 2021
Traveling in a failing dirigible, de Maistre visits Xavi, a contemporary girl who discovers that her own room offers hidden adventure.
—New York Times, 31 Dec. 2020
Photos from later sightings appear to show the craft was an enormous white dirigible with an undercarriage described by one U.S. official as the size of three buses.
—ABC News, 12 Feb. 2023
The 10 days of derring-do acrobatics and races by celebrity plane and dirigible pilots did far more than even Los Angeles boosters might have dreamed.
—Patt Morrisoncolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2023
The answer is to blow up small distinctions into dirigible-size differences, manufacture disagreements and go after rivals on attributes such as demeanor, character and temperament.
—Columnist
Follow, Los Angeles Times, 20 Jan. 2023
The grandest commercial dirigible the world has ever seen.
—Dennard Dayle, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022
Two years later, Nobile returned to the Arctic with another dirigible, the Italia, and reached the North Pole again.
—David James, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Mar. 2022
Stettheimer was bringing popular magazines and window displays and musical-comedy manners into an art that was bound to look frivolous but that was as purposefully light as a dirigible, permanently afloat.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022
Noun
The clip, built entirely from unseen footage from the original shoot, opens with an alternate view of the singers inside a futuristic dirigible with the song’s title splashed in neon on the side.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 13 Oct. 2022
Wingfoot Express dirigible took a joyride from Grant Park over the Loop, with catastrophic effects.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2022
But now that the transportation sector is looking for serious ways to cut carbon emissions, dirigibles are attempting to make a comeback.
—Starre Vartan, Popular Mechanics, 31 Mar. 2020
Three days later, the Hindenburg’s 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen erupted into a firestorm as the dirigible attempted to dock at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey on the evening of May 6, 1937.
—Eric Larsen, USA TODAY, 17 Nov. 2019
Gadgets abound but her main secret weapon is the dirigible that, perpetually hovering in the clouds, can be used for surveillance and the application of knockout drugs, as well as facilitating various abductions, thefts and escapes.
—New York Times, 23 Oct. 2019
On a November evening last year, Jennifer Doudna put on a stylish black evening gown and headed to Hangar One, a building at NASA’s Ames Research Center that was constructed in 1932 to house dirigibles.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 Feb. 2015
Others include the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 and the deadly crash of the German dirigible Hindenburg in New Jersey in 1937.
—Washington Post, 21 Apr. 2018
Some sources reported dirigibles powered by steam engines.
—Greg Eghigian, Smithsonian, 2 Feb. 2018
See More
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dirigible.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Word History
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Dictionary Entries Near dirigible
Cite this Entry
“Dirigible.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dirigible. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.
Kids Definition
dirigible
1 of 2 adjective
dir·i·gi·ble
ˈdir-ə-jə-bəl,
də-ˈrij-ə-
: capable of being steered
dirigible
2 of 2 noun
: airship
More from Merriam-Webster on dirigible
Nglish: Translation of dirigible for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about dirigible
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