as in perching
to come to rest after descending from the air
the plane will touch down in about 30 minutes
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Recent Examples of touching down
At eight seconds, there was a sound consistent with the plane's landing gear touching down on the runway.
—
Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Dallas Morning News, 4 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman, and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Samuel Petrequin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
While some agencies dominate headlines with splashy launches, JAXA often works with a quiet precision that suddenly produces something extraordinary — a spacecraft touching down on an asteroid, a lunar lander executing a daring maneuver, or a new instrument revealing the universe in sharper detail.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Also, look for Steven Spielberg’s new alien movie, Disclosure Day, to invade the broadcast, that pic touching down on June 12.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 1 Feb. 2026
Video shows the plane slowly descending toward the runway, then touching down with a jolt, its wings bouncing as yellow fire and white smoke bursts from beneath it.
—CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026
Social media video shows the Airbus A321 touching down and bouncing on the runway – and then part of its gear appearing to roll off into the grass.
—Zach Wichter, USA Today, 20 Jan. 2026
Just before touching down, DART performs a pitch-leveling maneuver, which straightens its flight angle and ensures all four legs make even contact.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2025
Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 24 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Dallas Morning News, 4 Mar. 2026
The French plane departed from Muscat, Oman, and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
—Samuel Petrequin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2026
While some agencies dominate headlines with splashy launches, JAXA often works with a quiet precision that suddenly produces something extraordinary — a spacecraft touching down on an asteroid, a lunar lander executing a daring maneuver, or a new instrument revealing the universe in sharper detail.
—Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Also, look for Steven Spielberg’s new alien movie, Disclosure Day, to invade the broadcast, that pic touching down on June 12.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 1 Feb. 2026
Video shows the plane slowly descending toward the runway, then touching down with a jolt, its wings bouncing as yellow fire and white smoke bursts from beneath it.
—CBS News, 28 Jan. 2026
Social media video shows the Airbus A321 touching down and bouncing on the runway – and then part of its gear appearing to roll off into the grass.
—Zach Wichter, USA Today, 20 Jan. 2026
Just before touching down, DART performs a pitch-leveling maneuver, which straightens its flight angle and ensures all four legs make even contact.
—Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for touching down
Verb
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Birds need a complete habitat that includes food, shelter, nesting areas and perching spots.—
Tim Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Mar. 2026
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The department recommends staggering bloom times to make sure hummingbirds have a food source for the entire season, as well as providing a source of water and trees or tall shrubs for nesting and perching.—
Maia Pandey,
jsonline.com,
24 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In the first episode’s Elimination Challenge‚ which was focused on North Carolina’s state vegetable, sweet potatoes — Cochran cooked up a pork loin in the kitchen at La Belle Helene that wasn’t quite cooked through, landing her in the bottom three competitors.—
Heidi Finley,
Charlotte Observer,
31 Mar. 2026
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The first-stage booster made a recovery landing on land at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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His truck went around 200 feet down a hallway of the building, and Ghazali exchanged gunfire with Temple Israel security before he is seen lighting the fireworks.—
Phil Helsel,
NBC news,
30 Mar. 2026
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First, news emerged this week that the company is killing its disastrous Sora video AI slop app, lighting what was supposed to be a groundbreaking $1 billion deal with Disney on fire.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Touching down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/touching%20down. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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