airborne
Americanadjective
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carried by the air, as pollen or dust.
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in flight; aloft.
The plane was airborne by six o'clock.
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Military. (of ground forces) carried in airplanes or gliders: abn
airborne infantry.
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Aeronautics. (of an aircraft) supported entirely by the atmosphere; flying.
adjective
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conveyed by or through the air
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(of aircraft) flying; in the air
Etymology
Origin of airborne
Explanation
Something that's airborne is flying through the air. A soaring seagull is airborne, and so is a rock launched from a slingshot. If you've ever tried parachuting from an airplane, you've been airborne, sailing through the sky, and when the plane itself takes off from the runway, it becomes airborne. On a windy day at the beach, people's umbrellas and towels sometimes become airborne. Bourne here is the past tense of bear, or "carry," so when something is airborne, it's carried by the air.
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.
"We were very excited to see that GHP-88310 given by mouth completely prevented airborne transmission in our ferret model of measles," said first author Carolin Lieber, a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Plemper lab.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Svitlana, 48, a nurse in an airborne assault unit, also saw the arrival of Drapaty -- a respected "combat officer" -- as "positive."
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Unlike flu or Covid, it is not airborne and spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
After the eight-day-long fire in a 500,000-square-foot Boyle Heights warehouse, eastern Los Angeles residents are contending with putrid smells, soot and potentially hazardous airborne chemicals after heavy plumes of smoke spread throughout the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The plane chugs along while Charlie keeps pointing at the other planes going airborne.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
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.
