monoplane

[mon-uh-pleyn]

noun

1. an airplane with one main sustaining surface or one set of wings.

2. Nautical.,  a planing plane craft the bottom of which is in an unbroken fore-and-aft line.

monoplane

/ ˈmɒnəʊˌpleɪn /

noun

1. an aeroplane with only one pair of wings Compare biplane

Other Word Forms

• monoplanist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of monoplane¹

First recorded in 1905–10; mono- + plane ¹

Example Sentences

Numerous expeditions have turned up nothing, only confirming that swaths of ocean floor held no trace of her twin-tailed monoplane.

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He won cash prizes and set two records at Dominguez, one of them for quickest takeoff in his monoplane — 6.4 seconds.

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She became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel on April 16, 1912, in a Bleriot monoplane.

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While Charles Lindbergh is remembered for his solo crossing in an enclosed metal monoplane on May 21, 1927, this earlier, far-more-challenging trip in an open-cockpit biplane made of wood and fabric is nearly forgotten today.

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On Jan. 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

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