noun ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A turbojet engine having a (usually ducted) fan that drives a stream of air that partly bypasses the turbojet portion; in high-bypass-ratio types, most of the thrust comes from the bypass portion rather than the turbojet portion, and this can be thought of in simplistic terms as that the turbojet portion drives the fan and the fan propels the aircraft.

   "Turbofans are always multispool engines."

2. 2
   a jet engine in which a fan driven by a turbine provides extra air to the burner and gives extra thrust wordnet
3. 3
   An aircraft with such engines.
4. 4
   an airplane propelled by a fanjet engine wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

fanjetfan-jetfanjetfanjet engineturbofan engineturbojet

Example

More examples

"Most modern airliners use turbofan engines because of their high thrust and good fuel efficiency."

Etymology

From turbo- + fan.

Related phrases

geared turbofangas turbine

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