Library / English Dictionary

AIRCRAFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A vehicle that can fly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("aircraft" is a kind of...):

craft (a vehicle designed for navigation in or on water or air or through outer space)

Meronyms (parts of "aircraft"):

bay (a compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose)

cabin (the enclosed compartment of an aircraft or spacecraft where passengers are carried)

cockpit (compartment where the pilot sits while flying the aircraft)

aircraft engine (the engine that powers and aircraft)

fuel system (equipment in a motor vehicle or aircraft that delivers fuel to the engine)

nose (a front that resembles a human nose (especially the front of an aircraft))

frame; skeletal frame; skeleton; underframe (the internal supporting structure that gives an artifact its shape)

skin (an outer surface (usually thin))

Domain member category:

touch down (come or bring (a plane) to a landing)

aviate; fly; pilot (operate an airplane)

blackout; brownout; dimout (darkness resulting from the extinction of lights (as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft))

heavier-than-air (relating to an aircraft heavier than the air it displaces)

lighter-than-air (relating to a balloon or other aircraft that flies because it weighs less than the air it displaces)

sweptback ((especially of aircraft wings) angled rearward from the point of attachment)

sweptwing ((of an aircraft) having sweptback wings)

airplane pilot; pilot (someone who is licensed to operate an aircraft in flight)

driftage (the deviation (by a vessel or aircraft) from its intended course due to drifting)

destabilization (an event that causes a loss of equilibrium (as of a ship or aircraft))

stabilisation; stabilization (the act of making something (as a vessel or aircraft) less likely to overturn)

crop-dusting; spraying (the dispersion of fungicides or insecticides or fertilizer on growing crops (often from a low-flying aircraft))

crash landing (an emergency landing under circumstances where a normal landing is impossible (usually damaging the aircraft))

fly-by; flyover; flypast (a flight at a low altitude (usually of military aircraft) over spectators on the ground)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "aircraft"):

bogey; bogie; bogy (an unidentified (and possibly enemy) aircraft)

cruise missile (an unmanned aircraft that is a self-contained bomb)

heavier-than-air craft (a non-buoyant aircraft that requires a source of power to hold it aloft and to propel it)

lighter-than-air craft (aircraft supported by its own buoyancy)

stealth aircraft (an aircraft designed in accordance with technology that makes detection by radar difficult)

Holonyms ("aircraft" is a member of...):

fleet (group of aircraft operating together under the same ownership)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A group of giant trees was discovered by Professor Eric Gorgens, a researcher at the Federal University of the Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (UFVJM), Brazil using LIDAR – a method of remote sensing using a laser scanner on an aircraft.

(Expedition finds tallest tree in the Amazon, University of Cambridge)

A new study has revealed how inspiration from owls’ wings could allow aircraft and wind turbines to become quieter.

(Owls' Wings Key to Beating Wind Turbine Noise, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

NASA's C-20A features a high-precision autopilot designed and developed by engineers at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, allowing the aircraft to fly the same flight lines this spring as those flown in 2013 within 15 feet (4.5 meters) or closer.

(NASA airborne research focuses on Andean volcanoes, NASA)

Senior experts and engineers from across the agency and the Lockheed Martin Corporation concluded Friday that the QueSST design is capable of fulfilling the LBFD aircraft’s mission objectives, which are to fly at supersonic speeds, but create a soft thump instead of the disruptive sonic boom associated with supersonic flight today.

(NASA Completes Milestone Toward Quieter Supersonic X-Plane, NASA)

Their results point towards potential mechanisms for noise suppression in wind turbines, aircraft, multi-rotor drones and other machines.

(Owls' Wings Key to Beating Wind Turbine Noise, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)