fighter pilot

[ fahy-ter pahy-luht ]

noun

, Military.

1. a pilot trained to fly aircraft classified as fighters and to engage in aerial combat:

   The last surviving member of this celebrated squadron of fighter pilots has died, at age 92.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fighter pilot¹

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

She grappled with the realization that her role as a fighter pilot involved meting out death and destruction on a large scale.

From Washington Post

Sergey and Luisa’s quasi romantic friendship is redirected when an incredibly dynamic maverick fighter pilot arrives on the base, and both Sergey and Luisa are overwhelmed by his magnetism.

From Washington Blade

In the new Space Age, you can buy a ticket to orbit — no need to have been a fighter pilot in the military or to compete against thousands of other overachievers for a coveted spot in NASA’s astronaut corps.

From Washington Post

Yeager also served as a wing commander in the Vietnam War, bringing his combat experience to a younger generation of fighter pilots.

From Popular-Science

The sequence where Snoopy imagines being a World War I fighter pilot shot down behind enemy lines in Great Pumpkin, for instance, reflects the dog’s big imagination from the comic.

From Vox

“Getting a first shot is one thing,” said a former Air Force fighter pilot with extensive experience with Russian weapons.

From The Daily Beast

The Crown Prince in waiting, Muqrin, is also a former fighter pilot and trained at RAF Cranwell.

From The Daily Beast

For an American fighter pilot, however, ISIS convoys and fortifications look like great things to bomb.

From The Daily Beast

Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) is a former fighter pilot who flew combat missions in both Korea and Vietnam.

From The Daily Beast

Explain your childhood desire to be a fighter pilot and race-car driver.

From The Daily Beast

I wonder if that Nazi fighter pilot is aboard one of those carriers?

From Project Gutenberg

You were an Army flier, a fighter pilot, and all that sort of rot.

From Project Gutenberg

Is every fighter pilot who was with the force in San Diego still with it?

From Project Gutenberg

But I think there's a pretty fair chance of our catching up with that fighter pilot.

From Project Gutenberg

He can certainly find out in a minute if either of the carriers sailed with a fighter pilot missing.

From Project Gutenberg