TOUCHING DOWN Synonyms: 22 Similar and Opposite Words

touching down

verb

Definition of touching down next

present participle of touch down

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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of touching down 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 The plane departed from Muscat, Oman and made a stop in Cairo, Egypt, before touching down at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, as travel across the region remains heavily disrupted by the widening conflict. —

ABC News, 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

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
In 2025, there was the Owl Arm Trend, in which Gen Z TikTokers contorted their bodies (and stretched their T-shirts) to mimic the shape of a perching owl, clinging to their friend’s arm.

— Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 30 Jan. 2026