airman

American  

[air-muhn] / ˈɛər mən /

noun

• airmen
  plural

1. an aviator.

2. U.S. Air Force. an enlisted person of one of the three lowest ranks airmanbasic, airman, airmanfirstclass. Amn

3. a member of a military aircrew.

4. (in other countries) an enlisted person in the air force.

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airman British  

/ ˈɛəmən /

noun

1. an aviator, esp a man who serves in his country's air force

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• airwoman
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• airmen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of airman

1870–75, for an earlier sense; air ¹ + -man, on the model of seaman

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

airman airmen

"Free-falling is a good way to put it," said the US airman, who was identified by the name Bravo during the CBS segment.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

A California airman died Thursday after the heavy machinery he was operating rolled down an embankment at a military base, officials said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026

The airman would have received training for a situation like this, and it would have involved turning his beacon signal on, getting to high ground, concealing himself and establishing communications.

From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2026

They told him the Pentagon had long planned for this scenario and could rescue the airman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 5, 2026

Ignoring the captain’s assessment, Phillips had enlisted in the air corps, where he’d proven to be a born airman.

From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand

American airmen were already helping to restore traffic at Simon Bolivar International Airport near Caracas, which was also damaged in one of the worst quake disasters in Latin American history.

From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026

“We’re asking airmen to strap into jets that their grandfathers, fathers and now they are flying, and it is time for a reset,” said Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

A makeshift forward-operating base was set up inside Iran and used in the mission to rescue the U.S. airmen whose plane went down in early April.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 9, 2026

I flew with them and watched British and American airmen dropping aid from the rear cargo ramps of the planes several thousand feet above the people who needed it.

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2025

It was a crowd of thugs, black-shirted for the rally even though they could get arrested for it, hair slicked back with Brylcreem like a bunch of airmen.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein