tailsitter

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noun

A vertical-takeoff aircraft whose fuselage is perpendicular to the ground at takeoff.

Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nountailsitter (plural tailsitters)

plural tailsitters

  1. A vertical-takeoff aircraft whose fuselage is perpendicular to the ground at takeoff.
  2. A vertical-takeoff spacecraft whose fuselage is perpendicular to the ground at both takeoff and landing; a spacecraft that can land vertically.

Origin

From tail + sitter.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German Heckstarter
  • HeckstarterA vertical-takeoff aircraft
Spanish posacola
  • posacolaA vertical-takeoff aircraft

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

literatist
Cite this entry
APA

tailsitter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailsitter

MLA

“tailsitter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailsitter. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tailsitter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tailsitter.

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