aeroplane
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of aeroplane
1870–75; < French aéroplane, equivalent to aéro- aero- + -plane, apparently feminine of plan flat, level (< Latin plānus; cf. plain 1), perhaps by association with forme plane; apparently coined and first used by French sculptor and inventor Joseph Pline in 1855
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The equation, written in Omar al-Bayoumi's handwriting, indicates the height and distance required for a pilot to guide an aeroplane to a given object on the ground.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
He says: "I thought about it, I spoke to the wife and said do you mind if I go and play on an aeroplane? That was four years ago."
From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2025
India trialled cloud seeding over its smog-filled capital for the first time, spraying a chemical from an aeroplane to encourage rain and wash deadly particles out of the air.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2025
New Delhi city authorities, working with the government's Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, launched a test run on Thursday afternoon using a Cessna light aeroplane over the city's northern Burari area.
From Barron's ● Oct. 24, 2025
He quickly crumpled the aeroplane and ate it.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
