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.
"In this context, the player has been invited to Istanbul to advance the transfer negotiations and undergo medical examinations," they added with a photo of Guendouzi on an aeroplane.
From Barron's • Jan. 8, 2026
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
"The airlines told Boeing what they really needed was the most fuel-efficient, economical long-range jetliner ever produced. They now wanted an aeroplane with a similar capacity to the Sonic Cruiser, minus the high speed."
From BBC • Jun. 29, 2025
As the Wrights wrote Father, banking had always been a problem for earlier aeronauts who had tried to do that simply by shifting their weight around inside the aeroplane.
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.
