pilot
Syllables: pi·lot/ˈpaɪ̯.lət/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈpɑɪ̯.lət/
pilot noun: a person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
Noun (1)
pilot (plural pilots)
- A person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
- They scud before the wind, and sail in open sea.
Ahead of all the master pilot steers;
And, as he leads, the following navy veers.1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- They scud before the wind, and sail in open sea.
- A person who knows well the depths, shoals, and currents of a harbor or coastal area, who is hired by a vessel to help navigate the harbor or coast.
- A guide book for maritime navigation.
- An instrument for detecting the compass error.
- A pilot vehicle.
- A person authorised to drive such a vehicle during an escort.
- A guide or escort through an unknown or dangerous area.
- So we mounted our horses, and put out for that town, under the direction of two friendly Creeks we had taken for pilots.1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, E. L. Cary and A. Hart, page 43
- Something serving as a test or trial.
- We would like to run a pilot in your facility before rolling out the program citywide.
- “I agreed with my husband when he said that to do the business properly we must do a pilot first.”2018, Tsitsi Dangarembga, This Mournable Body, Faber & Faber (2020), page 40
- The heading or excavation of relatively small dimensions, first made in the driving of a larger tunnel.
- A tone or signal, usually a single frequency, transmitted over a communications system for control or synchronization purposes.
- A person who is in charge of the controls of an aircraft.
- A sample episode of a proposed TV series produced to decide if it should be made or not. If approved, typically the first episode of an actual TV series.
- I think her biggest deal was she starred in a pilot.[…]Well, the way they pick TV shows is they make one show. That show's called a pilot. Then they show that one show to the people who pick shows, and on the strength of that one show, they decide if they wanna make more shows.1994, Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction, spoken by Jules (Samuel L. Jackson)
- A cowcatcher.
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- A racing driver.
- A pilot light.
- One who flies a kite.
- Julia has become quite a good kite pilot. She has learned how to repeatedly buzz her father's head, coming within two feet, and not hitting him.2003, John P. Glaser, A Father's Collage, page 31
- A short plug, sometimes made interchangeable, at the end of a counterbore to guide the tool.
Adjective
pilot (not comparable)
- Made or used as a test or demonstration of capability.
- a pilot run of the new factory
- The pilot plant showed the need for major process changes.
- Used to control or activate another device.
- a pilot light
- Being a vehicle to warn other road users of the presence of an oversize vehicle or combination.
- a pilot vehicle
Verb
pilot (third-person singular simple present pilots, present participle piloting, simple past and past participle piloted)
- To control (an aircraft or watercraft).
- I have visited more than half a dozen carrier training facilities, spent over 150 hours on jumpseats, piloted a Lockheed 1011 from MIA to LAX, visited numerous towers, rapcons, and centers, and discussed our commercial Air Transport System with everyone involved.1975, John H. Reed, Transportation Safety Board, Safety Information, page 30
- Synonyms:
- aviate
- To guide (a vessel) through coastal waters.
- To test or have a preliminary trial of (an idea, a new product, television show, etc.)
- To serve as the leading locomotive on a double-headed train.
- One of the Midland Lines' Birmingham R.C.W. Type 2 diesels, No. D5403, made the debut of its class in the Manchester area on July 28 when it appeared in the early hours on freight; after four days in the area it left for the south piloting B.R./Sulzer Type 4 diesel No. D88 on the 2.25 Manchester...1962 October, “Motive Power Miscellany: London Midland Region: Midland Lines”, in Modern Railways, page 279
- To guide or conduct (a person) somewhere.
- Thus it came about that, three days later, I descended from the train at Styles St. Mary, an absurd little station, with no apparent reason for existence, perched up in the midst of green fields and country lanes. John Cavendish was waiting on the platform, and piloted me out to the car.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 7
Noun (2) capitalized: PILOT
PILOT (plural PILOTs)
- Acronym of payment in lieu of taxes
pilot meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
pilot in Hindi
- controller of aircraft
- पायलट pāylaṭ, हवाबाज़ havābāz, विमानचालक vimāncālak
pilot in Tamil
- controller of aircraft
- வானோடி vāṉōṭi, பைலட் pailaṭ
pilot in Marathi
- पायलट, विमानचालक
pilot in Urdu
- controller of aircraft
- ہَوا باز havā bāz, ہَواباز havābāz, پائِلَٹ pāilaṭ, طَیَّارْچی tayyārcī
More languagesFewer languages
- pilot in Bengali
- বিমান চালক biman calok, বৈমানিক bōimanik
- pilot in Telugu
- పైలట్ pailaṭ, వైమానికుడు vaimānikuḍu
- pilot in Malayalam
- പൈലറ്റ്
- pilot in Kannada
- ಪೈಲೆಟ್, ವಿಮಾನ ಚಾಲಕ
- pilot in Punjabi
- ਪਾਇਲਟ, ਪਾਇਲਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- pilot in Gujarati
- પાયલોટ, પાયલોટે
- pilot in Odia
- ପାଇଲଟ୍, ପାଇଲଟ
- pilot in Sinhala
- නියමුවා niyamuwā
- pilot in Nepali
- पायलट, पाइलट
- pilot in Pashto
- پيلوټ piloṭ, پايلوټ pāyloṭ, هوانورد hawānaward
- pilot in Tagalog
- piloto, malim
- pilot in Arabic
- طَيَّار ṭayyār, طَيَّارَة ṭayyāra
- pilot in Malay
- juruterbang
- pilot in Indonesian
- pilot, penerbang
- pilot in Thai
- นักบิน nák-bin, นำร่อง nam-rɔ̂ng
- pilot in Vietnamese
- phi công
- pilot in Myanmar
- လေယာဉ်မှူး leyanyhmu:
Examples of pilot in a sentence
- I don’t know all the theoretical abracadabra about how it works, I’m only its pilot.
- I’m going to masquerade as an old-fashioned pilot. What are you going to dress up as?
- The aircraft went into a sudden decline before the pilot regained control.
Synonyms of pilot
Forms of pilot
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | pilots |
| alternative Internet deliberate misspelling | pylote |
| alternative Internet deliberate misspelling | pylot |
| plural | PILOTs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | pilots |
| present participle | piloting |
| past participle | piloted |
| past | piloted |
Origin of pilot
From Middle French pilot, pillot, from Italian pilota, piloto, older also pedotta, pedot(t)o (the form in pil- is probably influenced by pileggiare (“to sail, navigate”)); ultimately from unattested Byzantine Greek *πηδώτης (*pēdṓtēs, “helmsman”), from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdón, “blade of an oar, oar”), hence also Ancient and Modern Greek πηδάλιον (pēdálion, “rudder”).
Words formed from pilot
- automatic pilot
- autopilot
- back-door pilot
- backdoor pilot
- branch pilot
- bush pilot
- busted pilot
- charter pilot
- cock pilot
- co-pilot
- copilot
- cow-pilot
- desk pilot
- drop the pilot
- fighter pilot
- hangar pilot
- helipilot
- longfin pilot whale
- nonpilot
- paraglider pilot
- pilotage
- pilot balloon
- pilot beam
- pilotbird
- pilot biscuit
- pilot boat
- pilot bread
- pilot burner
- pilot cloth
- pilot coat
- pilot engine
- pilotess
- pilot experiment
- pilot fish
- pilot flag
- pilot flame
- pilot flying
- pilot-hole
- pilot hole
- pilothouse
- pilot in command
- pilotism
- pilot jacket
- pilot lamp
- pilotless
- pilot light
- pilotman
- pilot monitoring
- pilot not flying
- pilot nut
- pilot officer
- pilot plant
- pilot project
- pilotry
- pilot scheme
- pilotship
- pilot snake
- pilot valve
- pilot version
- pilot wave
Phrases with pilot
- cow pilot
- rug pilot
- sky pilot
- pilot nuts
- test pilot
- yard pilot
- pilot beams
- pilot boats
- pilot coats
- pilot flags
- pilot holes
- pilot lamps
32 more phrasesFewer phrases
- pilot waves
- pilot whale
- pilot wheel
- pilot cloths
- pilot fishes
- pilot flames
- pilot lights
- pilot plants
- pilot snakes
- pilot valves
- pilot whales
- pilot wheels
- pilot burners
- pilot engines
- pilot jackets
- pilot schemes
- pilot vehicle
- pilot balloons
- pilot biscuits
- pilot officers
- pilot projects
- pilot vehicles
- pilot versions
- drops the pilot
- Pilot Wilderness
- dropped the pilot
- pilot experiments
- dropping the pilot
- longfin pilot whales
- Pinsao Pilot Project
- short-finned pilot whale
- short-finned pilot whales
Words that rhyme with pilot
Questions about pilot
- What does pilot mean?
- Pilot means a person who steers a ship, a helmsman.
- What is pilot in Hindi?
- Pilot in Hindi is पायलट (pāylaṭ), हवाबाज़ (havābāz), विमानचालक (vimāncālak). See Pilot meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is pilot?
- Pilot can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce pilot?
- Pilot is pronounced /ˈpaɪ̯.lət/.
- What is the plural of pilot?
- The plural of pilot is pilots.
Words near pilot in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pilot (page history and authors); PILOT (page history and authors); pilot (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pilot (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-pilot.ogg, en-au-pilot.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pilot.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pilot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.