as in planes
a vehicle for traveling through the air that has fixed wings for lift
my uncle learned how to fly an airplane while serving in the air force
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of airplanes
There is an irony in airplanes.
—
Jason Parham, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2026
Airbus still delivered more aircraft last year than Boeing, with 793, though that total is below the record 863 airplanes the European manufacturer handed over in 2019.
—Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026
This was, after all, a man accustomed to jumping out of airplanes without parachutes, starring under the big top of Nitro Circus, and treating physics like a polite suggestion.
—Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
At the Alaska Aviation Museum, near the airport in Anchorage, a Boeing 737 with the logo of Alaska Airlines on its sides and the company’s emblem of a smiling, parka-wearing Native man on its tail sits with other mothballed airplanes outside a hangar.
—Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
Soon after, Fred retired from the smithing shop, where his grandson (my father) had played model airplanes on the shop’s dirt floor as a child.
—Eric Holcomb, Time, 16 Jan. 2026
According to a February 2011 letter to airlines, Boeing noted failures with parts of the pylon, the framework that connects the engine, during four incidents on three MD-11 airplanes, the same model as UPS Flight 2976.
—Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 15 Jan. 2026
China's Hong Kong International Airport also came to mind for readers with its unrivaled shopping and one-of-a-kind Sky Bridge for watching airplanes above an active runway.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 14 Jan. 2026
The rare mineral was used for smelting aluminum, critical for building airplanes during the war.
—Paul Bierman, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
Jason Parham, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2026
Airbus still delivered more aircraft last year than Boeing, with 793, though that total is below the record 863 airplanes the European manufacturer handed over in 2019.
—Leslie Josephs, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026
This was, after all, a man accustomed to jumping out of airplanes without parachutes, starring under the big top of Nitro Circus, and treating physics like a polite suggestion.
—Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 20 Jan. 2026
At the Alaska Aviation Museum, near the airport in Anchorage, a Boeing 737 with the logo of Alaska Airlines on its sides and the company’s emblem of a smiling, parka-wearing Native man on its tail sits with other mothballed airplanes outside a hangar.
—Ian Frazier, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
Soon after, Fred retired from the smithing shop, where his grandson (my father) had played model airplanes on the shop’s dirt floor as a child.
—Eric Holcomb, Time, 16 Jan. 2026
According to a February 2011 letter to airlines, Boeing noted failures with parts of the pylon, the framework that connects the engine, during four incidents on three MD-11 airplanes, the same model as UPS Flight 2976.
—Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 15 Jan. 2026
China's Hong Kong International Airport also came to mind for readers with its unrivaled shopping and one-of-a-kind Sky Bridge for watching airplanes above an active runway.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 14 Jan. 2026
The rare mineral was used for smelting aluminum, critical for building airplanes during the war.
—Paul Bierman, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for airplanes
Noun
-
The route at the time of the collision allowed the Black Hawk to fly as close as 75 feet below planes descending to land on runway 33 at Reagan National Airport, according to the NTSB.—
Alexandra Skores,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
-
At their closest points, helicopters and planes flew within 75 feet of each other near DCA, an astonishingly close number.—
Sam Sweeney,
ABC News,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
The technology can fuel any form of transport, including yachts, ships, ferries, aeroplanes, trains, cars, buses, and trucks.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Airplanes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/airplanes. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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