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flightless

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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English

Etymology

From flight +‎ -less.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: flīt'lĭs
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

flightless (not comparable)

  1. Unable to fly.
    1. (usually) Describing kinds of birds that normally cannot fly, such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.
      Synonyms: nonflying, nonvolant
      Antonyms: flying, volant
      Coordinate terms: flighted, unflighted
      Near-synonyms: apterous, wingless
      The indigenous fauna of Australia and New Zealand featured an especially interesting array of flightless birds.
      • 2010, Alexander Elder, Straying from the Flock: Travels in New Zealand:
        America has its bald eagle and New Zealand has its kiwi, a flightless brown bird.
    2. (uncommon) Describing an individual bird that normally would be able to fly but in this case cannot, such as an injured sparrow.
      The animal shelter has a flightless sparrow named Shiny, who seems to make up for his disability by being an avid runner.
    3. (uncommon, humorous) Suddenly deprived of a scheduled (airline) flight by its cancellation.
      Oh great, some wind is blowing in Chicago, so now I'm flightless in Seattle, because this airline can't cope!

Derived terms

Translations

See also

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