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stunt pilot

stunt pilot

1 5.6
A pilot who performs daring flying tricks at airshows
  • noun
  • /stʌnt ˈpaɪlət/
translation icon : piloto acrobático
  • Charles Lindbergh: Mother, I've decided to become a barnstormer stunt pilot.
  • Hollywood stunt pilots

Examples

  • "He's just a stunt pilot.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • We may not be stunt pilots, but that doesn't change our ability to push the edge of the envelope in virtually everything we do.

    Blog text (6)
  • The stunt pilot wowed the crowd with his daring aerial maneuvers during the air show.

  • After years of training, she finally became a stunt pilot, performing breathtaking tricks in front of thousands.

  • At the exhibition, the stunt pilot showcased incredible flips and spins, thrilling the audience with each move.

Synonyms

barnstormer
vsstunt pilot
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A pilot who does stunt flights to entertain people in towns

focuses on daring aerial maneuvers rather than travelling historical displays
stunt flier
vsstunt pilot
  • US
7.2

A pilot who does flying tricks at public shows

is focused on daring aerial maneuvers often in exhibitions

How Daring

barnstormer
  • Archaic
1 9.9
stunt pilot
1 5.6

Surface Forms

stunt pilot singular
stunt pilots plural

Morphology

stunt + pilot

The noun phrase is fully compositional: 'stunt' (a dangerous attention-seeking act) modifies 'pilot' (person who flies an aircraft), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes a pilot who performs stunts. This head–modifier pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows straightforward English compounding, making the meaning immediately accessible to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Stunt pilot comes from show performers: a stunt is a dangerous trick done to amaze people, and early airplane flyers copied those tricks in the sky. So a stunt pilot is a pilot who 'performs daring moves in the sky' to thrill a crowd.