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aeroplane

American  
[air-uh-pleyn] / ˈɛər əˌpleɪn /

noun

Chiefly British.

  1. airplane.

aeroplane British  
/ ˈɛərəˌpleɪn, ˈɛəˌpleɪn /

noun

  1. a heavier-than-air powered flying vehicle with fixed wings

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of aeroplane

1870–75; < French aéroplane, equivalent to aéro- aero- + -plane, apparently feminine of plan flat, level (< Latin plānus; 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.

Produced since 1988, the A320 is the world's best-selling aeroplane.

From Barron's • Nov. 29, 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

A mixture of Hallmark-style schmaltz, Biblical-themed supernatural mystery and aeroplane disaster drama.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025

And when we began to actually build the aeroplane, they made a point of coming down with an already fixed cold supper and helping us.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

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.