Airbrake

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A brake (slowing device) that is operated pneumatically (by air pressure).

    "The powerful airbrake of the truck quickly brought it to a stop."

  2. 2
    a vehicular brake that operates by compressed air; especially for heavy vehicles wordnet
  3. 3
    A movable control surface that extends to increase drag without affecting lift (unlike a spoiler); a device that provides aerodynamic braking.

    "The BAe 146 and Fokker 100's tailcone-mounted airbrakes allow them to slow down quickly for steep approaches without experiencing the lift degradation seen with spoiler-only aircraft."

  4. 4
    a small parachute or articulated flap to reduce the speed of an aircraft wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dive brake

Example

More examples

"The powerful airbrake of the truck quickly brought it to a stop."

Etymology

From air + brake.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.