flier
Americannoun
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something that flies, as a bird or insect.
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an aviator or pilot.
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an airplane passenger, especially one who travels regularly by air.
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a person or thing that moves with great speed.
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some part of a machine having a rapid motion.
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a small handbill; circular.
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Informal. a flying jump or leap.
He took a flier off the bridge.
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Informal. a risky or speculative venture.
Our flier in uranium stocks was a disaster.
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one of the steps in a straight flight of stairs.
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a trapeze artist; aerialist.
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a silvery-green sunfish, Centrarchus macropterus, found from Virginia to Florida and through the lower Mississippi valley.
noun
Etymology
Origin of flier
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at fly 2, -er 1
Explanation
Go to a career fair and you'll be accosted with fliers or leaflet advertisements for the many companies there. Often fliers are a waste of paper because they get thrown away. Just like the paper fliers that people hand to you on the street that end up flying into a trash cans, a flier can also mean someone who flies or travels by air. You might also see the word spelled flyer, which works too. A frequent flier is a person who travels a lot. Get enough frequent flier miles on an airline and you could fly somewhere for free.
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.
This will be close, but I think they will get off to a flier this time.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“Our names will be going around the moon,” said Matthew Madayag, who found the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory from a flier posted in a campus elevator.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
Authorities released a community alert flier on July 29 and got multiple tips that led to identifying the suspect, 27-year-old Rodrigo Melgar, on Friday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
But for this frequent flier, it felt like a waste of time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Or not a poster, more like a flier: a violent shade of purple, with green accents and black lettering, risley in RETROSPECT, it says; just the last name, like a boy.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
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.
