drone

¹ American  

[drohn] / droʊn /

noun

1. the male of the honeybee and other bees, stingless and making no honey.

2. 1. an uncrewed military aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond the line of sight.

      We picked up the GPS signal of a U.S. spy drone.

      They used a radio-controlled drone to test the weapon in an isolated spot.

   2. (loosely) any uncrewed airborne device, especially a small one, that is guided remotely: used for industrial, commercial, and recreational purposes, such as photography and filming, delivery, mining, etc..

      The grocery company will test drones for home delivery and pickup.

3. a drudge.

   I don't want to be a drone who mindlessly does exactly what I'm told, but rather someone who asserts a little control in my work.

4. a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.

   That lazy drone was asleep when he should have been weeding the garden.

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drone ² American  

[drohn] / droʊn /

verb (used without object)

• drones,
  present (3rd person singular)
• droned,
  past participle,  past
• droning
  present participle

1. to make a dull, continued, low, monotonous sound; hum; buzz.

2. to speak in a monotonous tone.

3. to proceed in a dull, monotonous manner (usually followed byon ).

   The meeting droned on for hours.

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verb (used with object)

• drones,
  present (3rd person singular)
• droned,
  past participle,  past
• droning
  present participle

1. to say in a dull, monotonous tone.

noun

1. Music.

   1. a continuous low tone produced by the bass pipes or bass strings of musical instruments.

   2. the pipes (especially of the bagpipe) or strings producing this tone.

   3. a bagpipe equipped with such pipes.

2. a monotonous low tone; humming or buzzing sound.

3. a person who speaks in a monotonous tone.

drone ¹ British  

/ drəʊn /

noun

1. a male bee in a colony of social bees, whose sole function is to mate with the queen

2. a person who lives off the work of others

3. a pilotless radio-controlled aircraft

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drone ² British  

/ drəʊn /

verb

1. (intr) to make a monotonous low dull sound; buzz or hum

2. to utter (words) in a monotonous tone, esp to talk without stopping

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noun

1. a monotonous low dull sound

2. music

   1. a sustained bass note or chord of unvarying pitch accompanying a melody

   2. ( as modifier )

      a drone bass

3. music one of the single-reed pipes in a set of bagpipes, used for accompanying the melody played on the chanter

4. a person who speaks in a low monotonous tone

drone Scientific  

/ drōn /

1. A male bee, especially a honeybee whose only function is to fertilize the queen. Drones have no stingers, do no work, and do not produce honey.

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drone Cultural  

1. In military usage, a pilotless aircraft used for reconnaissance and, more recently, for launching aerial attacks.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• droner
  noun
• droning
  adjective
• dronish
  adjective
• droningly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• droning
  present
• droned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• drone
  simple
• drones
  simple
• have droned
  perfect
• has droned
  perfect
• am droning
  progressive
• are droning
  progressive
• is droning
  progressive
• have been droning
  perfect progressive
• has been droning
  perfect progressive

Past

• droned
  simple
• had droned
  perfect
• was droning
  progressive
• were droning
  progressive
• had been droning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will drone
  simple
• will have droned
  perfect
• will be droning
  progressive
• will have been droning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of drone¹

First recorded before 1000; 1945–50 drone ¹ for def. 2a; Middle English drone, drane, Old English dran, dron; akin to Old High German treno, German Drohne

Origin of drone²

First recorded in 1490–1500; from drone ¹; compare Middle English drounen “to boom, roar,” Icelandic drynja “to bellow,” Gothic drunjus “noise”

Explanation

To drone is to make a low, continuous noise that sounds like humming or buzzing. On summer nights, you might hear cicadas drone, and on snowy winter mornings, hear your neighbor's snow blower drone. Like animals and machines, people drone too, their voices sounding dull and tedious: "When my history teacher drones on, it's hard to stay awake." Drone is also a noun, meaning the monotonous sound itself, like the drone of a boring lecture; or a male worker bee; or a person who's as unambitious as a worker bee. Finally, there are the drones that fly by remote control, doing surveillance, gathering weather information, and occasionally firing missiles for the military.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

drone drones droned droning

The U.S. military denied any involvement in the drone strikes in March and the disappearance of the vessel in January.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

"This is the first drone," said the soldier accompanying us in south-western Yemen.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

That war of wills ended with the Emirates ceding control of Bab el-Mandeb — along with the nearby island of Perim, where the Emirates had built a drone airbase — to Saudi Arabia.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

Vladimir Saldo, appointed by Moscow to lead occupational authorities in the Kherson region, said a Ukrainian drone had hit a cafe in the village of Askaniya-Nova, near Crimea, Friday evening.

From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026

Classical Indian musical aesthetics require only three major components in an ensemble: a drone, a solo instrumentalist or vocalist, and a drum.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

“Using AI to autonomously operate automobiles, trucks, and drones, as well as other industrial automation initiatives, represent a $400 billion market opportunity by increasing equipment uptime while reducing training and operating costs,” they said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026

In January, a vessel from Manta went missing after the crew alerted family members that drones and aircraft were following them, family members said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Earlier this month, reports said British military sites had been targeted by drones more than 300 times over the past year.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

Among the arsenal of tools the snaggers use are drones, GoPro cameras, cavity cameras, thermal imaging equipment and laser levels.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

“They keep a few drones around for fun,” said Mel, grinning behind her mesh.

From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby

At one event, in which Oz was interviewed by Dean Cain, an actor who played Superman in a 1990s television show, about 50 people listened in as Oz droned on about an anti-fraud task force.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

Yet, Carlson’s listless approach to the Russian dictator, who droned on endlessly, proved a wasted opportunity.

From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024

Canned music droned from the telephone as Jessica Sanchez waited, fidgeting and shifting her pregnant belly in her chair at the Santa Monica community health center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

One day after it got too bizarre, the actors said nothing funny and court proceedings droned on to keep Gladden off their scent.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2023

He turned cartwheels and the rain droned down around him.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Too many, I’d say, but slapping droning voiceovers atop expository visuals isn’t for me.

From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026

Whatever engine droning and snoozing you might remember from earlier CVT systems has been banished to the Phantom Zone.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 1, 2026

“At any given point, the pike was a symphony of spinning wheels, creaking cabs, clopping hooves, and droning livestock,” Mr. Crytzer writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

The summer’s unpleasant cicada infestation, meanwhile, is a stark reminder that his preferred droning screech comes from his dot-matrix printer, spitting out keyboard-symbol drawings he makes for customers who send him cash.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 16, 2026

He found that he had started to hum a droning little tune.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• purr
• whirr