Plane
adj, noun, verb ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A level or flat surface.
- 2 A tool for smoothing wood by removing thin layers from the surface. countable
- 3 An airplane; an aeroplane.
"The plane is travelling impossibly slowly – 30km an hour – when it gently noses up and leaves the ground. With air beneath them, the rangy wings seem to gain strength; the fuselage that on the ground seemed flimsy becomes elegant, like a crane vaunting in flight. It seems not to fly, though, so much as float."
- 4 A deciduous tree of the genus Platanus. countable
- 5 an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets wordnet
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- 6 A flat surface extending infinitely in all directions (e.g. horizontal or vertical plane); a bounded portion thereof.
"Mirrors in the compartments have been canted out of the vertical plane to reduce reflections to the passengers when seated."
- 7 Any of various nymphalid butterflies, of various genera, having a slow gliding flight.
- 8 A sycamore. Northern-UK
- 9 a carpenter's hand tool with an adjustable blade for smoothing or shaping wood wordnet
- 10 A flat surface extending infinitely in all directions (e.g. horizontal or vertical plane); a bounded portion thereof.; An imaginary plane which divides the body into two portions.
- 11 The butterfly Bindahara phocides, family Lycaenidae, of Asia and Australasia.
- 12 a power tool for smoothing or shaping wood wordnet
- 13 A level of existence or development.
"astral plane"
- 14 (mathematics) an unbounded two-dimensional shape wordnet
- 15 A roughly flat, thin, often moveable structure used to create lateral force by the flow of air or water over its surface, found on aircraft, submarines, etc.
- 16 a level of existence or development wordnet
- 17 Any of 17 designated ranges of 2¹⁶ (65,536) sequential code points each.
- 1 To smooth (wood) with a plane. transitive
- 2 To move in a way that lifts the bow out of the water.
- 3 cut or remove with or as if with a plane wordnet
- 4 To glide or soar.
- 5 make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane wordnet
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- 6 travel on the surface of water wordnet
- 1 Of a surface: flat or level.
- 1 having a surface without slope, tilt in which no part is higher or lower than another wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"As the plane was approaching turbulence, the pilot asked the passengers aboard the plane to fasten their seat belts."
Etymology
From Latin plānum (“flat surface”), a noun use of the neuter of plānus (“plain”). The word was introduced in the 17th century to distinguish the geometrical senses from the other senses of plain. Doublet of llano, piano, and plain.
From Middle English plane, plaine, from Anglo-Norman plaine, from Late Latin plāna (“planing tool”).
Clipping of aeroplane.
From Middle English plane, borrowed from Old French plane, from Latin platanus, from Ancient Greek πλάτανος (plátanos), from πλατύς (platús, “wide, broad”).
Related phrases
More for "plane"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.