heavier-than-air
Americanadjective
adjective
-
having a density greater than that of air
-
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
At 37, Nadar made his first balloon ascent, quickly growing convinced that only a heavier-than-air flying machine, probably one with a propeller, could ever properly navigate the skies.
From Washington Post • Jul. 19, 2017
They have gained a slight advance over France, in fact, in this branch of aeronautics; but they have quite dropped behind in the question of heavier-than-air machines.
From The War in the Air; Vol. 1 The Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force by Raleigh, Walter Alexander, Sir
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.
