floatplane

American

[floht-pleyn] / ˈfloʊtˌpleɪn /

Or float plane

noun

Aeronautics.

a seaplane having landing gear consisting of one or more floats.

Etymology

Origin of floatplane

First recorded in 1920–25; float + plane ¹

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.

On Tuesday, just hours after the second flood of historic proportions, I took a ride in a de Havilland Beaver floatplane to tour over the glacier with my family.

From Slate • Aug. 9, 2024

Crews are responding to a floatplane crash in Lake Sammamish, the Bellevue Fire Department said Friday morning.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 15, 2023

Gabby Hanna, 29, an attorney from Seattle with a zest for travel who cooked elaborate meals for her adoring family, died in the floatplane crash Sept. 4 off Whidbey Island.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 9, 2022

‘Smash’ star Megan Hilty’s relatives, including her pregnant sister and brother-in-law, were among 10 victims in a floatplane crash Sunday in Washington.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 8, 2022

This week his job was escorting a violent juvenile offender first from Minneapolis to Seattle, then to Ketchikan, Alaska, where they boarded a big silver floatplane to the Tlingit village of Drake.

From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023