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Synonyms

flying saucer

American  

noun

  1. any of various disk-shaped objects allegedly seen flying at high speeds and altitudes, often with extreme changes in speed and direction, and thought by some to be manned by intelligent beings from outer space.

flying saucer British  

noun

  1. any disc-shaped flying object alleged to come from outer space

"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 flying saucer

First recorded in 1945–50

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 a work on paper, a flying saucer shoots neon-orange beams at a nuclear power plant.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

A flying saucer seen by a guest house, a 7ft alien-like figure coming out of a hedge and a "cigar-shaped" UFO near a school yard.

From BBC • Sep. 26, 2023

In 1980, a popular book called "The Roswell Incident" by Charles Berlitz and William L. Moore described an alleged flying saucer crash and government cover-up 33 years prior near Roswell, New Mexico.

From Salon • Jul. 19, 2023

In time, a flying saucer will zip into view, bringing the story’s first act to a close and sending Asteroid City into government-imposed lockdown.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2023

It was a flying saucer from Tralfamadore, navigating in both space and time, therefore seeming to Billy Pilgrim to have come from nowhere all at once.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

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.