Meanings
- comparative onlyWeighing more than the volume of air which it displaces.
And folks laughed at Santos Dumont, at the Wrights, and at all the other fellows, who said they could take a heavier-than-air machine, and skim above the clouds like a bird.
1914, Victor Appleton, chapter 1, in Tom Swift And His Photo Telephone - comparative onlyOf, pertaining to, or using an aircraft which weighs more than the volume of air it displaces.
Died. John Thomas Moore, 65, who, on a windy day in December 1903, lent a hand putting a flying machine on a runway, was the last surviving witness to the Wright brothers' historic first heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk.
1952 March 10, “Milestones”, in Time
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiverelating to an aircraft heavier than the air it displaces
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
heavier-than-air. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavier-than-air
“heavier-than-air.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavier-than-air. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heavier-than-air,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavier-than-air.
Source: heavier-than-air on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.