highflying

or high-fly·ing

[ hahy-flahy-ing ]

/ ˈhaɪˈflaɪ ɪŋ /

adjective

moving upward to or along at a considerable height: highflying planes.

extravagant or extreme in aims, opinions, etc.; unduly lofty: highflying ideas about life.

having a high cost or perceived value: the highflying glamour stocks.

QUIZZES

TAKE THIS QUIZ TO SEE WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL PUNCTUATION!

Commas mark divisions in sentences. Periods end declarative sentences. Apostrophes show possession. Easy, right? Well, punctuation can get pretty tricky—fast. Think you got what it takes to be a punctuation expert? Take our quiz to prove it!

Question 1 of 10

Which of the options below is the best punctuation for the sentence? It__s your turn to pick the movie __ but your sister gets to pick the board game we _ re going to play.

Its your turn to pick the movie but your sister gets to pick the board game we’re going to play.

It’s your turn to pick the movie but your sister gets to pick the board game were going to play.

It’s your turn to pick the movie, but your sister gets to pick the board game we’re going to play.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of highflying

First recorded in 1575–85; high + flying

Words nearby highflying

highest common factor, highest intercostal vein, highet, highfalutin, highflier, highflying, highhole, highjack, highjacker, highland, highland cattle

Example sentences from the Web for high-flying

For a high-flying financier gone bad, faking your own death is a tempting escape from legal woes.
First Rule of the Fake Dead Bankers Club: Stay Gone|Daniel Gross|January 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The once high-flying company, which saw sales fall sharply in 2009, is finding it difficult to mimic its early-stage growth.
Crocs Stock Falls on Critical Research Report|Edward Ferguson|August 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Not from high-flying trading or investment banking, but from a boring, stodgy business: lending money to homeowners.
JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Homeowners Profit With Help From the Fed|Matthew Zeitlin|October 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But the plan misfired, and when Laura found herself on her own at college, her high-flying life went into a nosedive.
Laura Johnson, London’s Poor Little Rich Rioter, Awaits Sentencing|Peter Popham|April 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST

After his high-flying student years at Karachi University, he worked for the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong.
Their Man in Washington|John Barry|October 7, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Well, all I remember thinking is that the high-flying June bug would get away, or that some other scientist would capture him.
The Motor Boys Over the Ocean|Clarence Young
The tumbling habit was gradually bred out of the high-flying birds, and after a time many of them did not tumble at all.
Our Domestic Birds|John H. Robinson
Toward dawn, the birds began, high-flying parrots and then the garden orioles.
When the Owl Cries|Paul Bartlett
You know very well, the great business of the high-flying Whigs, at this juncture, is to endeavour a repeal of the test clause.
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Vol. VII|Jonathan Swift
And some few are so honest that they pass by as harmlessly as a wedge of high-flying wild duck.
Library Of The World's Best Literature, Ancient And Modern, Vol 4|Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for high-flying

high-flying

adjective

having great ambition or ability

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