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View synonyms for flying

flying

[ flahy-ing ]

adjective

  1. making flight or passing through the air; that flies: fly:

    a flying insect; an unidentified flying object.

  2. floating, fluttering, waving, hanging, or moving freely in the air:

    flying banners; flying hair.

  3. extending through the air.
  4. moving swiftly.
  5. made while moving swiftly:

    a flying leap.

  6. very hasty or brief; fleeting or transitory:

    a flying visit; a flying remark.

  7. designed or organized for swift movement or action.
  8. fleeing, running away, or taking flight:

    They pursued the flying enemy.

  9. Nautical. (of a sail) having none of its edges fastened to spars or stays.


noun

  1. the act of moving through the air on wings; flight.

adverb

  1. Nautical. without being fastened to a yard, stay, or the like:

    a sail set flying.

flying

/ ˈflaɪɪŋ /

adjective

  1. prenominal hurried; fleeting

    a flying visit

  2. prenominal designed for fast action
  3. prenominal moving or passing quickly on or as if on wings

    the flying hours

    a flying leap

  4. hanging, waving, or floating freely

    flying hair

  5. nautical (of a sail) not hauled in tight against the wind


noun

  1. the act of piloting, navigating, or travelling in an aircraft
  2. modifier relating to, capable of, accustomed to, or adapted for flight

    a flying machine

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Other Words From

  • non·flying adjective
  • un·flying adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of flying1

before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English flēogende (adj.). See fly 2, -ing 2, -ing 1

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Example Sentences

That ground hold was to stop you flying through weather that could kill you and everyone else aboard.

The copilot on Flight 8501 was Remi Emmanuel Piesel, 46, who despite his age had just 2,275 hours of flying experience.

Inevitably, the old visceral “hands-on” flying skills, no longer much employed by pilots, have atrophied like an unused limb.

The “pilot flying” was more probably the far less experienced copilot.

One report has the AirAsia Airbus flying at a speed very close to what would trigger a low speed stall.

I asked him to tell me how he produced a certain effect he makes in his arrangement of the ballad in Wagner's Flying Dutchman.

These Eskimos were very fond of kite-flying, for its own sake, without reference to utility!

Pretty well for "a cross between an Astley's chariot, a flying machine and a treadmill."

I've seen just enough of flying fishes to hanker after Mandalay, just enough of Spaniards to long for a sight of Spain.

The graceful flying-fish, like a fair white bird, goes glancing above the blue magnificence of the tropical seas.

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fly-inflying boat