Flight

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /flaɪt/

Definitions

1. The act of traveling through the air or the journey made by an aircraft from one place to another
2. The process of moving through the air, such as in an aircraft, or a specific journey taken by a bird or insect
3. The motion of soaring in the atmosphere, typically involving an aircraft, or the path taken by a creature while navigating the skies

Etymology: The noun "flight" for flying through the air is a much older word than its shape suggests. Its ancestor, Old English "flyht," was formed from "fly" with the suffix "-t," a variant of "-th" that turns a verb into a noun of action, much as "height" comes from "high." That makes the word a close cousin of "flee" and "flight" in the sense of fleeing, which share a root. The two senses were once so tangled that the source lists separate etymologies for them, one linked to "fly" and one to "flee." Over time, the same word covered a bird's wing-beat, a long journey by air, and a set of steps. "A flight of stairs" uses the older sense of a series of things moving or set in order, and the usage gives the noun its other familiar meanings.

Synonyms: flying, soaring, gliding, takeoff, departure

Antonyms: landing, arrival, descent, plummet, drop