landing

Landing is the act of returning to the ground after having been in flight or up in the air. It can also be used to refer to the act of returning to the land after having been in water.

Landing also commonly refers to an instance of doing this. This especially involves aircraft, as in That was a rough landing. But it can also be applied to a person, as in She’ll have to stick the landing if she wants a perfect score. 

Landing can also mean a place where ships can dock.

It can also refer to the floor at the top of a flight of stairs or the platform between two flights of stairs. The landing often has a bigger surface area than the steps and is usually positioned between flights when they change directions.

The word landing comes is also the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb land, as in We will be landing shortly.

Example: I’m much more nervous during the landing than at takeoff.

The first records of the word landing as a noun come from the 1400s. Though today it’s most commonly associated with airplanes, it was first used in the context of ships (not surprisingly, since planes weren’t invented until much later).

When landing is used in the context of an aircraft, it’s often paired with a word that describes how it happened, as in hard landing, crash landing, or water landing. A landing strip is a flat stretch where planes can land and take off. A landing pad is a place for a helicopter to land and take off. A landing page is a page on a website designed to be the first place users go when coming to the site, such as from clicking an offsite link. This term likens the page to a landing strip or landing pad where users will “land” upon visiting the site.

In gymnastics, to stick the landing is to land in a way so that your feet stay on the ground without having to take an extra step. The phrase stick the landing is now sometimes used as a slang term meaning to flawlessly perform the last action of some task.

What are some other forms related to landing?

• postlanding (adjective)

What are some synonyms for landing?

• touchdown
• dock

What are some words that share a root or word element with landing? 

• land
• landing strip
• landing page
• landing gear

What are some words that often get used in discussing landing?

• airplane
• plane
• helicopter
• airport
• stairs
• stairwell
• step
• takeoff

The word landing is often associated with what happens after flying, but it’s commonly used in many contexts.

Tianwen-1 is due to enter the red planet’s orbit in February and will attempt a soft landing within 90 days https://t.co/fNtVplxfoc

— The National (@TheNationalUAE) July 23, 2020

On this day in 1969: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins—with the help of thousands of NASA engineers, scientists and mission controllers on Earth—pulled of a moon landing that remains one of humanity’s most incredible achievements. #Apollo11 https://t.co/tPXotGT3zq

— Scientific American (@sciam) July 20, 2020

VALIANT

At Atlanta 1996, the pressure was on an injured @kerristrug96 to land her final vault in order to clinch the first-ever team gold for USA Gymnastics. She stuck the landing, then fell to her knees in pain. But she had secured the gold medal in this iconic Olympic moment pic.twitter.com/1oheOEXE63

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) July 24, 2020

True or False? 

Landing is always used in the context of aircraft and never to refer to ships coming to land.