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ejection seat

American  

noun

  1. an airplane seat that can be ejected with the pilot in an emergency.


ejection seat British  

noun

  1. a seat, esp as fitted to military aircraft, that is fired by a cartridge or rocket to eject the occupant from the aircraft in an emergency

"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 ejection seat

First recorded in 1940–45


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.

See Examples For:

The Hawker Hunter, a British-designed Cold War-era fighter jet, is equipped with a Martin-Baker ejection seat that allows the pilot to blast out of the cockpit in an emergency.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Click the trigger and the BlackFly noses down, bringing the pilot to a position more like a gaming chair than an ejection seat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025

Defense Department officials said that all F-35 ejection seats were inspected after the Air Force in July 22 temporarily grounded its F-35 fleet over ejection seat concerns.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2023

In July 2022, the Air Force temporarily grounded its F-35s over ejection seat concerns.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2023

An ejection seat is simply the aluminum seat the pilot sits in, with a small rocket motor built into the back of it.

From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins

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