fuselage
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of fuselage
1905–10; < French, equivalent to fusel ( é ) spindle-shaped (derivative of fuseau spindle; see fusee) + -age -age
Explanation
The main part of an airplane — the part in which you sit as a passenger — is called the fuselage. Your luggage rides in the fuselage, too. The word fuselage comes from the Latin fusus, or "spindle," which describes the tube shape of the central part of an airplane. Wings, tails, engines — these are all extra parts of the plane that attach to the fuselage. Different kinds of airplanes have different types of fuselages, depending on how fast they need to travel and what they carry, but a fuselage is always hollow and always has a cockpit at the front.
Vocabulary lists containing fuselage
Flying High: Aviation Words
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A Spelling Bee for Fun
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Hatchet
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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.
It did not say whether 2026 deliveries would also be affected by the problem which it said stemmed from "a recent supplier quality issue on fuselage panels impacting its A320 Family delivery flow".
From Barron's • Dec. 3, 2025
Reuters, citing industry sources, reported an industrial-quality issue affecting fuselage panels of several dozen aircraft in the A320 family.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 1, 2025
Mr Ramesh also spoke about the physical injuries he suffered in the crash, which saw him escape his seat - 11A - through an opening in the fuselage.
From BBC • Nov. 3, 2025
Regulators, blaming Boeing’s emphasis on production over quality, imposed the production limit after a fuselage panel blew off an Alaska Airlines jet midair in early 2024.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 26, 2025
My favorite plane was the British Spitfire, which was a beautiful, graceful-looking airplane with a slender fuselage and a curved, elliptical-shaped wing.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
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.
