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Glite Dictionary
amphibious aircraft

amphibious aircraft

6.6
A plane that can take off and land on water and land
  • noun
  • /æmˈfɪbiəs ˈɛrkræft/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aeronave anfibia
  • The Coast Guard uses amphibious aircraft to conduct rescue operations in both ocean and land environments.

Examples

  • The tourist resort offers scenic flights on an amphibious aircraft that can land on the beach and the water.

  • Shown here is a rendering of a nanotube-enhanced amphibious aircraft designed by Harbor Composites.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Many military operations rely on amphibious aircraft for quick deployment in diverse terrains.

Synonyms

amphibian
vsamphibious aircraft
8.5

An airplane that can take off from and land on both water and land

is the same meaning but uses a longer descriptive phrase

Antonyms

landplane
  • Specialized
6.0

A plane made to take off and land on the ground, not water

How Amphibious

amphibious aircraft
  • Specialized
6.6
pontoon plane
  • US
6.8
flying boat
  • Archaic
2 7.5
landplane
  • Specialized
6.0

Surface Forms

amphibious aircraft singular
amphibious aircrafts plural

Morphology

amphibious + aircraft

The meaning is directly compositional: 'amphibious' means capable of operating on both land and water and 'aircraft' is a flying vehicle, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer an aircraft that can use land and water. This is a regular noun + adjective composition and is cross-linguistically transparent, making the phrase immediately understandable from its parts.

Etymology

Amphibious aircraft comes from the word amphibious, made of the parts amphi meaning 'both' and bios meaning 'life', so imagine a frog that lives on land and in water. So, an amphibious aircraft is a plane that can take off and land on both water and land.