overflight

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noun

The flight of an aircraft over a particular place, especially a flight over foreign or enemy territory.

OriginEnglish flight ← Middle English flight ← Old English flyht →
UncommonScrabble 20
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Meanings

nounoverflight (plural overflights)

plural overflights

  1. The flight of an aircraft over a particular place, especially a flight over foreign or enemy territory.

    Nicaragua has been investigating the possibility that the 1985 outbreak of dengue fever along its Honduran border may have resulted from the release of infected mosquitos by U.S. reconnaissance overflights.

    1987 May 9, Bod Lederer, “US Denies AIDS Bio War with Contradictions”, in Gay Community News, page 8

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*plew-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*plewk-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*pléwketi
  10. Proto-Germanic*fleuganą
  11. Proto-West Germanic*fleugan
  12. Proto-West Germanic*fluhti
  13. Old Englishflyht
  14. Middle Englishflight
  15. Englishflight
  16. Englishoverflight

From over- + flight.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Danish overflyvning
  • overflyvningflight over a place
Finnish ylilento
  • ylilentoflight over a place
Italian sorvolo
  • sorvoloflight over a place
Polish przelot
  • przelotflight over a place
Spanish sobrevuelo
  • sobrevueloflight over a place
Cite this entry
APA

overflight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overflight

MLA

“overflight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overflight. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overflight,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overflight.

Source: overflight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.