UFO

American  

[yoo-ef-oh, yoo-foh] / ˈjuˈɛfˈoʊ, ˈju foʊ /

abbreviation

• UFO's,
  plural
• UFOs
  plural

1. unidentified flying object: any unexplained moving object observed in the sky, especially one assumed by some observers to be of extraterrestrial origin.

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UFO British  

/ ˈjuːfəʊ /

abbreviation

1. unidentified flying object

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UFO ¹ Cultural  

1. The abbreviation for u nidentified f lying o bject. Sometimes referred to colloquially as “flying saucers.” Most UFO sightings have prosaic explanations; there is no hard evidence that extraterrestrial beings are visiting Earth.

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UFO ² Cultural  

1. An abbreviation for “U nidentified F lying O bject.” Often described as “flying saucers,” some UFOs are believed to come from other planets or galaxies and thus support the idea that human beings are not the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Few scientists agree.

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Usage

See UAP.

Etymology

Origin of UFO

First recorded 1950–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

UFO

And it came together pretty quickly,” Shepherd said of the lineup, which includes Floating Points, Four Tet, Ben UFO, Avalon Emerson, Theo Parrish and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

There was an entire month when I couldn’t stop talking to my editor about UFO discussion boards.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Submitted to the US Air Force shortly afterwards, the footage later became one of the visual cases reviewed by Project Blue Book, the Air Force's UFO investigation programme, which ran from 1952 to 1969.

From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026

The UFO script has varied little in the decades since: lights in the sky, claims of a coverup and a recurring lack of evidence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

He was in the newspaper and said he had “touched” the UFO and that it was “covered in a strange Martian language that looked like chicken feet.”

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos