heavier-than-air
Americanadjective
adjective
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having a density greater than that of air
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of or relating to an aircraft that does not depend on buoyancy for support but gains lift from aerodynamic forces
Etymology
Origin of heavier-than-air
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
And yet, on Dec. 17, 1903, Orville piloted a powered, heavier-than-air craft, the Wright Flyer, 120 feet across the sand at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
On Dec. 17, 1903, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully tested a heavier-than-air “aeroplane” known as the Wright Flyer III, which propelled itself through the air with the help of a four-cylinder inline engine.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2018
Also sold were a fragment from the propeller and a section of the wing from the Wright brothers’ Flyer, the first heavier-than-air self-powered aircraft, which each sold for $275,000.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2018
A Bridgeport event is scheduled for Monday to recognize Gustave Whitehead and the 116th anniversary of what state officials have called the “first manned, controlled flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft.”
From Washington Post ● Aug. 13, 2017
It is no derogation of the work accomplished by the Wright Brothers to say that they won the honour of the first power-propelled flights in a heavier-than-air machine only by a short period.
From A History of Aeronautics by Evelyn Charles Vivian
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
