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Glite Dictionary
crash landing

crash landing

7 4.4
An emergency landing when a plane cannot land normally and is often damaged
  • noun
  • /kræʃ ˈlændɪŋ/
translation icon : aterrizaje forzoso
  • The pilot safely executed a crash landing after the engines failed during takeoff.

Examples

  • She understood there was a chance that she wouldn't survive the crash landing, that none of them would.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • He made a crash landing and walked back toward the nearest farming station, where he called for help.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • We made a crash landing on...

    Plane (2023)

  • How did you feel when you heard it might be a crash landing?

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Family members decide as a group what materials to take or leave behind after crash landing on the Moon.

    Academic text (2007)

  • A crash landing with no survivors.

    Plane (2023)

  • The year after that, Robert was in a naval hospital in California, injured in a crash landing on a carrier flight deck.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Glenn recounted in detail how Williams made a crash landing with his plane on fire.

    Blog text (17)

  • If the aircraft is in for a crash landing, there is no time for the crew to walk down the aisles and make sure each passenger is aware of what to do.

    Blog text (24)

  • Lindbergh believed that locating the cockpit behind the gas tank gave him a better chance in case of a crash landing.

    Academic text (2010)

Synonyms

emergency landing
vscrash landing
24 2.5

A plane landing that happens because of a sudden problem like engine failure or bad weather

is an uncontrolled arrival often causing damage when a normal approach is impossible
forced landing
vscrash landing
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A landing that happens because of a sudden problem or bad weather

is an uncontrolled arrival often causing damage when no safe option exists

How Controlled

crash landing
7 4.4

Surface Forms

crash landing singular
crash landings plural

Morphology

crash + landing

The meaning — a landing that involves a crash or collision, often an emergency with possible damage — is directly and transparently composed from 'crash' (violent collision) + 'landing' (descent onto a surface). This straightforward noun–noun composition follows regular English compounding patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Crash landing comes from the picture of crash plus landing: a plane hitting the ground hard while coming down. So it means an urgent 'emergency' landing that often damages the plane.