flight
/ˈflɐɪ̯t/UK/ˈflaɪ̯t/
flight noun: the act of flying; the ability to fly.
Noun (1)
flight (countable and uncountable, plural flights)
- The act of flying; the ability to fly.
- Most birds are capable of flight.
- Bats are born with the instinct of flight.
- An instance of flying.
- The migrating birds' flight took them to Africa.
- The trajectory or passage through air or space of a projectile, ship, etc.
- The space shuttle's flight was carefully calculated long before takeoff.
- A swift movement, especially as to escape; an escape.
- The lizard's immediate flight when startled makes it hard to catch.
- The judge thought she was a flight risk.
- A trip made by an aircraft, particularly one between two cities or countries, which is often planned or reserved in advance.
- The flight to Paris leaves at 7 o'clock tonight.
- Where is the departure gate for flight 747? / Go straight down and to the right.
- The aircraft used in a journey through air or space.
- He boarded the flight to Miami.
- The movement of a spinning ball through the air from the bowler to where it bounces on the pitch.
- An episode of imaginative thinking or dreaming.
- a flight of fancy; a flight of the imagination
- The feathers on an arrow or dart used to help it follow an even path.
- Baſſ. In my ſchoole dayes, when I had loſt one ſhaft / I ſhot his fellow of the ſelfeſame flight / The ſelfeſame way, with more aduiſed watch / To finde the other forth, and by aduenturing both, / I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe, […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- An aerodynamic surface designed to guide a projectile's trajectory.
- The shaped material forming the thread of a screw.
- An air force unit, ranked below a squadron, comprising several planes and their crews.
- A numbered subclass of a given class of warship, denoting incremental modernizations to the original design.
- A group of birds, especially doves (pigeons), goshawks or swallows.
- a flight of swallows
- The latest note I have of the hobby waiting on the swallows is dated the 7th of September, 1893, when one appeared near the mill on the Avon at Harvington, where a small flight of swallows had gathered.1901, J. W. Willis-Bund and H. Arthur Doubleday, editor, A History of Worcestershire, page 160
- Synonyms:
- flock
- A group of angels or types of angels, e.g., seraphim, cherubim.
- The central figure in the painting is a young woman, surrounded by a flight of angels.
- The horses chafing at the bit and pawing the ground with pride, the flight of angels round the young woman symbolizing Faith, the Spirit riding one of the horses and carrying the pontifical keys, Faith with her inspired gesture and the life-like attitudes of the vanquished, all combine to form a...1904, Max Rooses, Rubens, volume 2, Duckworth & Company, page 431
- A paper airplane.
- A series of stairs between landings.
- Limerick terminus has changed but little since its opening, and travellers still ascend the same flight of steps from the forecourt to enter the handsome two-storey stone building, which contains the offices and a recently-modernised refreshment room.1958 May, W. J. South and L. Hyland, “Limerick as a Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 297
- She crept up the stairs [...] On she went, across the landing, from which sprang the tall window, and up the next flight until she reached the top.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 84
- A floor which is reached by stairs or escalators.
- How many flights up is it?
- A level of a terrace; a series of such levels making up a terrace.
- I'll start on the lowest flight of the terrace, you start at the top.
- The flight of terraces extended up fifty meters from the base.
Show 5 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
- A group of canal locks with a short distance between them
- A group of competitors, divided by ability or other factors.
- The competing sprinters were divided into several flights.
- A comparable sample of beers or other drinks.
- A series of small dishes of food united by a purpose, category, etc.
- a flight of canapés, a flight of sliders
- An advertising campaign of fixed length.
- After the first eight-week flight of advertising, the tracking research showed that consumers' predisposition to use Citi as a financial services provider jumped 50 percent.2006, Pat Fallon, Fred Senn, Juicing the Orange, page 34
Adjective
flight (comparative more flight, superlative most flight)
Verb
flight (third-person singular simple present flights, present participle flighting, simple past and past participle flighted)
- To throw the ball in such a way that it has more airtime and more spin than usual.
- To throw or kick something so as to send it flying with more loft or airtime than usual.
- Riyad Mahrez flighted the free-kick that followed to the far post and Morgan, with not much finesse but plenty of desire, bundled the ball over the line. Cue pandemonium in the stands.2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian
Noun (2)
flight (countable and uncountable, plural flights)
- The act of fleeing.
- take flight
- the flight of a refugee
flight meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
flight in Hindi
- act of flying
- उड़ान uṛān, परवाज़ parvāz
- journey made by an aircraft
- उड़ान uṛān
- instance of flying
- उड़ान uṛān
- act of fleeing
- पलायन palāyan
flight in Tamil
- பறப்பு, பறத்தல், பறக்கை, வானூர்திப் பயணம், வான் பயணம்
flight in Marathi
- flight
- उड्डाण uḍḍāṇ
flight in Urdu
- act of flying
- پَرْواز parvāz, اُڑان uṛān, طَیران tairān
- journey made by an aircraft
- پَرْواز parvāz
- act of fleeing
- فَرار farār
More languagesFewer languages
- flight in Bengali
- উড়ান uṛan, পলায়ন polaẏon, ফেরার pherar
- flight in Telugu
- విమానయానం, విమాన ప్రయాణం, ఫ్లైట్
- flight in Malayalam
- ഫ്ലൈറ്റ് phlaiṟṟŭ
- flight in Kannada
- ಹಾರಾಟ, ಪಾರಾಟ, ಓಟ, ಮೆಟ್ಟಲು ಸಾಲು
- flight in Punjabi
- ਪਲਾਇਣ palāiṇa
- flight in Gujarati
- પલાયન palāyan
- flight in Odia
- ଉଡାଣ uḍāṇa
- flight in Sanskrit
- डीन ḍīna
- flight in Nepali
- उडान
- flight in Tagalog
- lipaw
- flight in Arabic
- طَيَرَان ṭayarān, تَحْلِيق taḥlīq, فِرَار firār, هُرُوب hurūb
- flight in Malay
- penerbangan
- flight in Indonesian
- penerbangan
- flight in Thai
- การบิน gaan-bin, เที่ยวบิน tîao-bin
- flight in Vietnamese
- chuyến bay, bay
- Sindhi
- اڏام uḏām
Examples of flight in a sentence
- He is taking the 5 o' clock flight to London in the morning.
- he claimed that there was a flight of wild pigeons in this county in 1895.1899 May 20, J. S. Van Cleef, “The Wild Pigeons”, in Forest and Stream, volume 52, Forest and Stream Publishing Company, page 885:
- During the winter of 1906-07 a great flight of Goshawks appeared in the northern and eastern States.1912, Edward Howe Forbush, Herbert Keightley Job, A History of the Game Birds, Wild-fowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent...
- I look forward to seeing it as I gaze at a flight of doves whitebreasted, white-winged, swift of flight against the fury of a gale.1919 November, “Church Spires”, in Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Review, volume 102, page 851:
- To him the lightning was the sigh of an angel king and the sun was a flight of seraphim.1915, The Poetry Review, “Mysticism in Verse”, in The Living Age, volume 286, Littell, Son and Company, page 425:
Synonyms of flight
Forms of flight
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | flights |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more flight |
| superlative | most flight |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | flights |
| present participle | flighting |
| past participle | flighted |
| past | flighted |
Origin of flight
From Middle English flight, from Old English flyht (“flight”), from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti (“flight”), derived from *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Analyzable as fly + -t (variant of -th). Cognate with West Frisian flecht (“flight”), Dutch vlucht (“flight”), German Flucht (“flight”) (etymology 2).
From Middle English, from Old English flyht, from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti, derived from *fleuhaną (“to flee”). Analyzable as flee + -t (variant of -th). Cognate with Dutch vlucht, German Flucht (etymology 1).
Words formed from flight
- capital flight
- aflight
- autoflight
- beer flight
- bush flight
- bus-stop flight
- co-flight
- controlled flight into terrain
- death flight
- electronic flight bag
- fam flight
- fight or flight
- fini flight
- first flight
- first flight cover
- flight archery
- flight attendant
- flight bubble
- flight capital
- flightcase
- flight ceiling
- flight code
- flight control
- flight controller
- flightcraft
- flight crew
- flight data recorder
- flight deck
- flight director
- flight dispatcher
- flight engineer
- flight envelope
- flight feather
- flightful
- flight hostess
- flightiness
- flight information region
- flight instrument
- flight interruption manifest
- flight jacket
- flightless
- flight level
- flight lieutenant
- flight line
- flightling
- flightmare
- flight mode
- flight number
- flight nurse
- flight of beer
- flight of beers
- flight of earls
- flight of fancy
- flight of ideas
- flight path
- flight plan
- flight recorder
- flight risk
- flightseeing
- flight sequence
Phrases with flight
- in flight
- top flight
- dark flight
- flight case
- flight sock
- flight suit
- flight time
- Lévy flight
- male flight
- take flight
- test flight
- took flight
56 more phrasesFewer phrases
- wine flight
- black flight
- flight cases
- flight codes
- flight crews
- flight decks
- flight lines
- flight modes
- flight paths
- flight plans
- flight risks
- flight socks
- flight suits
- flight times
- ghost flight
- space flight
- taken flight
- takes flight
- white flight
- direct flight
- flight levels
- flight nurses
- flight square
- flight status
- flight ticket
- maiden flight
- taking flight
- flight bubbles
- flight jackets
- flight numbers
- flight squares
- flight tickets
- red-eye flight
- time of flight
- flight ceilings
- flight controls
- flight feathers
- flight sickness
- flight statuses
- Pindaric flight
- times of flight
- flight directors
- flight engineers
- flight envelopes
- flight recorders
- flight sequences
- flight attendants
- flight stewardess
- flight controllers
- flight instruments
- flight lieutenants
- first flight covers
- flight stewardesses
- flight data recorders
- flight information regions
- flight interruption manifests
Words that rhyme with flight
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- slight
- Dwight
- height
- sight
- night
- sprite
- fight
- parasite
- site
- alight
- smite
- all right
- blight
- might
- mite
- skite
- cite
- indite
- lite
- outright
- plight
- bight
- excite
- ignite
- invite
- overnight
- uptight
- wight
- accite
- alright
- benight
- bewrite
- blite
- copyright
- despite
- dight
- disunite
- finite
- flite
- hight
- incite
- recite
- relight
- rewrite
- sleight
- spite
- spright
- wite
Questions about flight
- What does flight mean?
- Flight means the act of flying; the ability to fly.
- What is flight in Hindi?
- Flight in Hindi is उड़ान (uṛān), परवाज़ (parvāz), पलायन (palāyan). See Flight meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use flight in a sentence?
- He is taking the 5 o' clock flight to London in the morning.
- What part of speech is flight?
- Flight can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce flight?
- Flight is pronounced /ˈflaɪ̯t/ (UK).
- What is the plural of flight?
- The plural of flight is flights.
Words near flight in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: flight (page history and authors); flight (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); उड्डाण (Marathi) (page history and authors); flight (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഫ്ലൈറ്റ് (Malayalam) (page history and authors); flight (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); डीन (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); flight (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-flight.ogg, en-au-flight.ogg.
Cite this entry: “flight.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flight. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.