fly
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flyIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈflaɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.
finance
A butterfly (combination of four options).
zoology
Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.
fishing
A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
swimming
The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).
preceded by definite article
A simple dance in which the hands are shaken in the air, popular in the 1960s.
verb
Travel through the air; be airborne
Travel in an airplane
“She is flying to Cincinnati tonight.”
intransitive
To travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface.
Display in the air or cause to float
intransitive
To travel or proceed very fast; to hasten.
Move quickly or suddenly
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.
Used this way, fly is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fly
- “She is flying to Cincinnati tonight.”verb
- “We fly flowers from the Caribbean to North America.”verb
- “Lindbergh was the first to fly the Atlantic.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: travel through the air
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.