aerial
Americanadjective
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of, in, or produced by the air.
aerial currents.
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inhabiting or frequenting the air.
aerial creatures.
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operating on a track or cable elevated above the ground.
an aerial ski lift up the mountainside.
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reaching far into the air; high; lofty.
aerial spires.
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partaking of the nature of air; airy.
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unsubstantial; visionary.
aerial fancies.
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having a light and graceful beauty; ethereal.
aerial music.
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Biology. growing in the air, as the adventitious roots of some trees.
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pertaining to or used for, against, or in aircraft.
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supplied or performed by means of aircraft.
aerial support; aerial reconnaissance.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling air
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existing, occurring, moving, or operating in the air
aerial cable car
aerial roots of a plant
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ethereal; light and delicate
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imaginary; visionary
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extending high into the air; lofty
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of or relating to aircraft
aerial combat
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of aerial
1595–1605; 1900–05 aerial for def. 11; < Latin āeri ( us ) of the air (< Greek āérios, equivalent to āer- (stem of āḗr air 1 ) + -ios adj. suffix) + -al 1
Explanation
Things that are aerial are happening in the air: birds, planes, and missiles are all aerial things. When talking about things that are literally up in the air, you can use the word aerial. If a country sends planes to bomb another country, that's an aerial attack. In football, the passing game is called the aerial game. Anything light and airy can also be called aerial, and an aerial is a device that picks up radio or TV signals: it plucks them out of the air. So when you see the word aerial, just think "air."
Vocabulary lists containing aerial
Flying High: Aviation Words
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 1
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Elements of the Universe: Aer, Aero ("Air")
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
There will be fortune tellers, dancing and aerial artistry and acrobatics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Russia is also integrating versions of a similar technology into its Geran series unmanned aerial vehicles, which are based on Iran’s delta-wing Shaheed-136 attack drone.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2026
The planned offering comes amid heightened investor interest in drone technology, with unmanned aerial vehicles dominating wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
History’s first aerial bombing and sinking of a ship at sea took place in February 1916, when a German bomber sank a British freighter.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Show your children aerials of courses from all over the world, and talk about how different courses can look along the Pacific coast, the Lowcountry of South Carolina or in the Scottish Highlands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
Heavy snow in Livigno on Tuesday morning forced a number of postponements, including the women's snowboard slopestyle final and the men's and women's aerials qualifiers in freestyle skiing.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
But if the aerials are turned off in 2035, is this the moment TV as we know it changes forever?
From BBC ● May 13, 2025
Before the aerials, the back handsprings, the 100-meter dashes and relay handoffs, these seemingly otherworldly talents are still regular people.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2024
It was in the fourth block we came to, a tall, bland building with peeling blue paint and with television aerials sticking out from the verandahs.
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
