aviation
Americannoun
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the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft.
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military aircraft.
noun
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the art or science of flying aircraft
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the design, production, and maintenance of aircraft
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military aircraft collectively
Other Word Forms
- aviatic adjective
Etymology
Origin of aviation
Explanation
If it has to do with flying or operating a plane, it has to do with aviation. If someone tells you that he's in aviation school, that means he is learning how to fly a plane. Aviation comes from the Latin avis meaning "bird," an appropriate translation given that aviation deals with travel by air, specifically in a plane. The aviation industry is the business sector dedicated to manufacturing and operating all types of aircraft. Air traffic controllers, when they are awake, are concerned with aviation safety.
Vocabulary lists containing aviation
Flying High: Aviation Words
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The Cay
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November Words
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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.
“There’s a lot of amazing things going on in aviation and space, and a lot of it happening in California,” the executive said.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
“I think there’s room for some mergers in the aviation industry.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
The Persian Gulf is a major source of aviation fuel, accounting for about 50% of Europe's imports.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Europe’s aviation safety regulator on Thursday extended a formal advisory warning airlines against almost all operations in Mideast airspace until at least April 24.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
But in the USSR, by 1935 there were about 150 flying clubs that provided aviation tuition to any teenage girl or boy who was a Komsomol member.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
