(often initial capital letter) a large dirigible balloon consisting of a long, cylindrical, covered framework containing compartments or cells filled with gas, and of various structures for holding the engines, passengers, etc.
any rigid airship or dirigible.
First recorded in 1900; after Count von Zeppelin
A zeppelin is a kind of airship that was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Zeppelins were flown by the German military during World War I. While Germany found many military uses for zeppelins during the first World War, they were also used for commercial air travel by both Germany and the United States. Zeppelins were typically made from an aluminum-like metal, and shaped like a long cylinder. The zeppelin was named after the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, one of the airship's inventors.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The zeppelin design, which placed individual gas-filled containers within a rigidly framed outer envelope, was invented around the turn of the 20th century by Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a German aristocrat and general.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
In groundbreaking work published last year, the Harvard team deduced that the stellar halo is tilted and elliptical in shape, like a zeppelin or football.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
And Harper asks viewers to hurt themselves suspending their disbelief, most notably in an action sequence where Rachel jumps out of a plane and lands on a zeppelin called The Locker.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2023
An ovoid-shaped airship calls to mind a 1920s-era zeppelin, although Vermette explains, “It’s basically an armadillo that’s been squashed.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2022
There was a roaring in Lee’s ears that had nothing to do with the conflagration in the forest below, or with the laboring drone of the zeppelin trying to rise again.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
"There were four Led Zeppelin autographs and a Jim Morrison autograph," Vadym said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Think of Peter Grant, the fearsomely intense manager of Led Zeppelin, or Andrew Loog Oldham, the flamboyant bad boy who guided the Rolling Stones.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
In 1970 they moved into Bron Yr Aur cottage, near Machynlleth, Powys, and three months later had written 'Led Zeppelin III'.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
I love the group that Led Zeppelin were modeled on, the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart singing with them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
I looked up in the middle of a Led Zeppelin drum solo, and my dad was sitting on the beat-up old couch about 8 feet in front of my bass drum.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
Today the slow-moving, sausage-shaped crafts called zeppelins might seem hopelessly antiquated, but in the mid-1930s they soared at the pinnacle of technology and modernity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The German military utilized zeppelins as early as 1915 to fly to London and bomb the city.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
In Scotland it became useful as a reconnaissance plane to protect the Forth coastline and Rosyth dockyard against German zeppelins.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2022
A museum devoted to zeppelins, plus an actual zeppelin high in the sky.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 24, 2022
“Perhaps it’s a place to launch zeppelins from,” said Millard.
From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs
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.
