contrail
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of contrail
First recorded in 1940–45; con(densation) trail
Explanation
The white, smoke-like water vapor that follows the path of an airplane is called a contrail. On a clear summer day, you might see several contrails criss-crossing the blue sky. The next time you see the elongated, cloud-like lines in the sky that linger long after the plane that made them has disappeared, you'll know to call them contrails. They're caused by condensing water vapor from an airplane's exhaust. The word dates from 1945, a shortened version of "condensation trail," and they're sometimes also called "vapor trails."
Vocabulary lists containing contrail
The Martian
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October Sky
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The Voyage of the Frog
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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 CO2 penalty is in the order of less than 1%, compared to the contrail cost, which is of a similar order magnitude to all of the CO2 of aviation," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Geography and a flight's latitude have a strong influence on whether a contrail is warming.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2024
The plane passing over Montreal during the partial phase of the eclipse left a typical contrail in its wake.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2024
Another SpaceX launch a couple of weeks earlier had caused a stir with its eye-catching streak of light and contrail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
It had a fine contrail, allowing us to track it all the way.
From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
