unidentified flying object

noun

plural unidentified flying objects

: a mysterious flying object in the sky that is sometimes assumed to be a spaceship from another planet : ufo

Three unidentified flying objects shot down from North American airspace could turn out to be balloons used for research or commercial purposes that posed no direct threat to the U.S., a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

—Candy Woodall et al.

called also UAP, unidentified aerial phenomenon, unidentified anomalous phenomenon

Examples of unidentified flying object in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But there's also quite a bit of imagery, including nearly 30 videos, which feature a range of intriguing unidentified flying objects — or unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), as they were recently rebranded. —Mike Wall, Space.com, 8 May 2026

The files also contain scanned historical material about government UAP and unidentified flying object (UFO) programs dating back to the 1940s and the Apollo program. —Becky Ferreira, Wired News, 8 May 2026

The base served as the headquarters for a military program monitoring unidentified flying objects from 1947 to 1969, according to the government. —Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 13 Mar. 2026

Their findings lead them to uncover a conspiracy, and, most intriguingly, reports of an unidentified flying object. —Kevin Jacobsen, Entertainment Weekly, 22 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined above