Standard Lemma guide

flightless

adj · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • flīt'lĭs
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F L AY1 T L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Unable to fly.

Describing kinds of birds that normally cannot fly, such as the penguin, ostrich, and emu.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, usually

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: apterous, wingless
  • The indigenous fauna of Australia and New Zealand featured an especially interesting array of flightless birds.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nonflying, nonvolant, apterous, wingless

Antonyms: flying, volant

2

adj

Meaning 2

Unable to fly.

Describing an individual bird that normally would be able to fly but in this case cannot, such as an injured sparrow.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, uncommon

Examples

  • The animal shelter has a flightless sparrow named Shiny, who seems to make up for his disability by being an avid runner.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Unable to fly.

Suddenly deprived of a scheduled (airline) flight by its cancellation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: humorous, not-comparable, uncommon

Examples

  • Oh great, some wind is blowing in Chicago, so now I'm flightless in Seattle, because this airline can't cope!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

incapable of flying

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *plew- Proto-Indo-European *plewk- Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *pléwketi Proto-Germanic *fleuganą Proto-West Germanic *fleugan Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Germanic *-þiz Proto-West Germanic *-þi Proto-West Germanic *fluhti Old English flyht Middle English flight English flight Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English flightless From flight + -less.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: nelétavý — unable to fly
  • Danish: ikke flyvedygtig — unable to fly
  • Dutch: niet-vliegend — unable to fly
  • Finnish: lentokyvytön — unable to fly
  • German: flugunfähig — unable to fly
  • Greek: άπτερος (ápteros) — unable to fly
  • Hungarian: röpképtelen — unable to fly
  • Icelandic: ófleygur — unable to fly
  • Italian: incapace di volare — unable to fly
  • Lithuanian: neskraidantis — unable to fly
  • Norwegian Bokmål: flygeudyktig — unable to fly
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: flygeudyktig — unable to fly
  • Persian: بیپرواز (bi-parvâz) — unable to fly
  • Polish: nielotny — unable to fly
  • Russian: нелета́ющий (neletájuščij) — unable to fly
  • Swedish: flygoförmögen — unable to fly
  • Telugu: ఎగురలేని (eguralēni) — unable to fly
Real reading context

flightless in complete knowledge articles

Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park Science & nature · Challenging · 1 uses