wingless

[ wing-lis ]

/ ˈwɪŋ lɪs /

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adjective

having no wings.

having only rudimentary wings, as an apteryx.

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Origin of wingless

First recorded in 1585–95; wing + -less

OTHER WORDS FROM wingless

wing·less·ness, noun

Words nearby wingless

winger, wing flat, wing-footed, wing formula, wing it, wingless, winglet, winglike, wing loading, wingman, wing nut

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use wingless in a sentence

After a few weeks, her offspring hatch, and wingless males mate with winged females, then chew an exit tunnel that allows the females to fly to another fig and repeat the process.
The Incredible Fig - Issue 104: Harmony|Meg Lowman|July 28, 2021|Nautilus
When one designer randomly drew a picture of round, wingless birds with bushy eyebrows, they knew they had an idea.
The Week's Best Journalism|The Daily Beast|February 11, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The latter family includes both winged and wingless forms, the Book-mites belonging to the latter category.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects|C. V. Riley
They are wingless, usually with simple eyes, and clothed with scales, and undergo no metamorphosis.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects|C. V. Riley

A third of the rarest moths of the collection for the man of India were antennaless, legless, wingless, and often headless.
A Girl Of The Limberlost|Gene Stratton Porter
On one of these leaves he placed a plant-louse, which was born under his own eyes, of a wingless mother.
The Insect World|Louis Figuier
Most of these insects, which we find so abundant upon our trees, are wingless females.
American Pomology|J. A. Warder

British Dictionary definitions for wingless

wingless

/ (ˈwɪŋlɪs) /

adjective

having no wings or vestigial wings

designating primitive insects of the subclass Apterygota, characterized by small size, lack of wings, and larvae resembling the adults: includes the springtails and bristletails

Derived forms of wingless

winglessness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012